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TWO  GREAT  SOUTHERNERS 


JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

AND 

ROBERT   E.   LEE 


BY 


A.  C.  WHITEHEAD,  A.M. 

EAST   END   SCHOOL,   ATLANTA,   GA. 


NEW   YORK  •:•  CINCINNATI  •:•  CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
A.   C.    WHITEHEAD. 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London. 


two  great  southerners. 
W.  P.     I 


PREFACE 

The  primary  aim  of  this  book  is  to  acquaint 
the  children  of  the  South  with  the  goodness  and 
grandeur  of  the  lives  of  two  of  her  noblest  sons. 

The  suggestion  for  the  work  came  from  a  report 
of  the  Library  Committee  of  the  School  Officials 
of  Georgia,  who  urged  that  some  one  write  the  life  of 
Jefferson  Davis  for  use  in  the  Southern  schools. 
Not  only  was  Davis  a  leading  figure  in  the  South- 
ern Confederacy,  but  he  played  an  important  part 
in  his  time  in  our  national  life.  He  was  a  man  of 
high  ideals  and  lofty  ambitions.  Of  the  goodness 
and  purity  of  General  Lee  there  can  be  no  question. 
It  seems,  therefore,  especially  fitting  that  the  stories 
of  the  President  of  the  Confederacy  and  of  his 
Commander  in  Chief  should  be  given  together. 

All  points  of  controversy  and  sectional  feeling 
have  been  avoided.  It  is  a  time  when  the  whole 
nation  is  laying  aside  discussion  of  such  topics, 
a  time  when  North  and  South  are  each  realizing 
and  acknowledging  that  in  the  Great  Trial  each 
was  faithful  to  duty. 

The  author's  thanks  are  due  to  Professor  Carl  W. 

Steed    of    Mercer    University   and    to    Dr.    W.    F. 

Melton  of   Emory   College  for  valuable  criticisms 

and  corrections. 

A.   C.   W. 
3 


LIFE    OF   JEFFERSON    DAVIS 


I.  The  Davis  Family 

II.  Birth  and  Boyhood 

III.  In  School  and  College 

IV.  At  West  Point 

V.  The  Young  Officer 

VI.  In  the  West  .... 

VII.  The  Planter  and  Politician 

VIII.  The  Soldier  Again 

IX.  At  Buena  Vista    . 

X.  The  United  States  Senator 

XI.  The  Secretary  of  War 

XII.  The  Senator  Again 

XIII.  President  of  the  Confederate 

XIV.  The  Close  of  the  Civil  War 
XV.  Beauvoir        .... 


States 


9 

12 

15 
'9 
23 
3° 
38 
42 

49 
55 
57 
61 

65 

72 

76 


LIFE    OF    ROBERT    E.    LEE 


CHAPTEK 
I. 

PAGE 
87 

II. 

92 

III. 

96 

IV. 

The  Engineer        .         .         . 

98 

V. 

The  Captain  of  Engineers 

I02 

VI. 

At  Home        

JI5 

VII. 

The  Cavalry  Officer 

127 

VIII. 

The  Confederate  General  (1861-1862) 

J35 

IX. 

The  Confederate  General  (1863)     . 

.     148 

X. 

The  Confederate  General  (1864-1865)    . 

158 

XI. 

173 

LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Jefferson  Davis     ..... 

Birthplace  of  Jefferson  Davis 

West  Point  in  Jefferson  Davis's  Time  . 

Fort  Winnebago  ..... 

Davis  at  the  Indian  Village 

Brierfield      ...... 

Colonel  Davis  at  Buena  Vista 

Bust  of  Jefferson  Davis 

The  White  House  of  the  Confederacy  . 

The  Capitol  of  the  Confederacy    . 

The  Jefferson  Davis  Monument  in  Richmond 

Robert  E.  Lee 

Stratford  House  ..... 

Arlington     ...... 

Captain  Lee  and  the  Drummer  Boy 
Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee 
Colonel  Lee  inspecting  his  Son's  Room 
Lee  on  Traveler   ..... 

Lee  and  the  Bird  .... 

Washington  and  Lee  University  . 

Lee  Monument  at  Washington  and  Lee  University 


PACE 

8 

»3 

22 

27 
36 
39 
52 

59 
69 

7i 
81 
86 
90 

99 
108 
117 
124 

155 
164 

176 

189 


JEFFERSON    DAVIS 


TWO    GREAT    SOUTHERNERS 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS 
CHAPTER  I 

THE   DAVIS   FAMILY 

If  you  look  with  care  on  the  map  of  the  British  Isles, 
you  will  find  a  part  of  one  of  them  which  is  called  Wales. 
In  olden  times,  the  people  of  all  these  islands  were  of  the 
Celtic  race.  When  the  Anglo-Saxons  invaded  Britain 
during  the  fifth  century,  a.d.,  the  Celtic  inhabitants 
were  pressed  westward  by  degrees  until  they  could  go 
no  farther,  for  they  were  stopped  by  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Irish  Sea.  So  they  took  up  their  abode  among 
the  Cambrian  Mountains  in  the  western  part  of  Eng- 
land. Here  they  lived  and  defied  their  enemies  for 
centuries.  They  were  a  brave,  proud,  and  unconquer- 
able race,  and  so  they  remain  to  this  day.  Their 
country  came  to  be  called  Wales. 

Now  about  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
at  the  time  William  and  Mary  were  on  the  English 
throne,  three  Davis  brothers  left  their  homes  in  Wales 

9 


io  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

and  came  to  America.  At  first  they  all  settled  in 
Philadelphia. 

The  youngest  of  these  three  brothers,  whose  name 
was  Evan,  soon  removed  to  Georgia,  at  that  time  a 
colony  of  Great  Britain.  In  Georgia,  he  married  a 
widow,  a  Mrs.  Emory.  Their  only  son  was  named 
Samuel. 

The  American  colonies  had  now  grown  so  in  wealth 
and  population  that  they  were  no  longer  willing  to  pay 
taxes  to  England  unless  they  could  have  members  in 
her  Parliament.  England  would  not  consent  to  this. 
As  you  have  doubtless  already  learned,  the  quarrel 
resulted  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

When  Samuel  Davis  was  about  sixteen  years  old,  his 
mother  sent  him  to  carry  food  and  clothes  to  two  of  his 
half-brothers  who  were  fighting  in  the  American  army 
against  the  British.  He  found  them  in  active  service, 
and  he  was  soon  so  well  pleased  with  the  life  they  were 
leading  that  he  decided  to  join  the  army  and  become  a 
soldier  himself. 

He  remained  with  the  soldiers  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  until  the  close  of  the  war.  But  he  had  gained 
such  experience  that  he  was  allowed  to  raise  a  company 
of  infantry  in  Georgia,  of  which  he  was  captain.  This 
company  he  led  to  Savannah  to  carry  assistance  to  the 
American  army  which  the  British  then  had  shut  up  in 
that  city. 


THE   DAVIS   FAMILY  II 

When  the  great  Revolution  at  last  ended,  he  returned 
to  his  home.  His  mother  had  died  and  the  old  place 
was  a  wreck.  All  the  property  which  could  be  moved 
had  been  carried  away  by  the  Indians,  Tories,  and  British 
soldiers.  The  buildings  had  been  burned,  the  fences 
had  been  torn  away,  and  the  crops  destroyed.  It  was 
no  longer  a  home  for  young  Samuel  Davis ;  so  he  settled 
at  another  place  near  Augusta,  and  engaged  in  farming. 

His  chances  for  obtaining  an  education  in  boyhood 
had  been  very  good.  He  had  tried  to  learn  and  was 
well  educated  for  those  times.  As  he  had  also  been 
known  favorably  to  the  people  of  his  community  all  his 
life,  they  made  him  clerk  of  the  county. 

He  did  well  on  his  new  farm  near  Augusta,  and  it  was 
to  this  home  he  brought  his  wife.  While  he  was  in  the 
war,  he  had  one  day  stopped  at  a  home  in  South  Caro- 
lina to  get  some  refreshments.  He  there  met  pretty 
Jane  Cook.  These  two  young  people  soon  were  in 
love  with  each  other.  When  the  war  had  ended,  and 
Samuel  had  prepared  a  place  for  them  to  live  in,  he 
went  back  to  see  her  and  took  her  home  with  him  as  his 
bride. 

She  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent  and  was  noted  for  her 
beauty  and  sprightly  mind.  He  was  handsome,  active 
in  body  and  mind,  and  well  thought  of  among  his  neigh- 
bors. They  lived  at  this  place  near  Augusta  a  good 
many  years  and  were  prosperous  and  happy. 


12  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

CHAPTER  II 

BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD 

Samuel  Davis  thought  he  could  make  a  better  living 
more  easily  in  a  newer  country.  So  about  the  year 
1800,  with  his  wife  and  several  children,  he  moved  to 
Kentucky.  He  settled  in  what  was  then  Christian 
County.  It  was  a  large  county  and  later  was  divided, 
so  the  place  where  Samuel  Davis  settled  was  in  what  is 
now  Todd  County.  The  town  of  Fairburn  has  since 
grown  up  on  the  place  where  the  home  was  built.  He 
began  growing  tobacco  for  the  market  and  raising 
blooded  horses,  of  which  he  owned  some  of  the  finest  in 
the  county. 

At  this  new  home  in  Kentucky,  Jefferson  Davis  was 
born,  the  3d  of  June,  1808.  He  was  the  youngest  of 
his  father's  family  of  ten  children.  There  were  five 
brothers  and  five  sisters.  All  lived  to  be  grown  men 
and  women  except  one  of  the  sisters. 

While  Jefferson  was  yet  an  infant,  his  father  again 
moved,  this  time  to  Bayou  Teche  in  Louisiana.  The 
health  of  the  children  was  not  good  here,  so  the  father 
sought  a  higher,  healthier  district  to  which  he  might 
carry  them.  He  found  a  place  which  suited  him  about 
a  mile  east  of  Woodville,  in  Wilkinson  County,  Missis- 
sippi.    He  moved  his  family  there  and  settled. 


BIRTH  AND   BOYHOOD 


13 


Not  many  people  lived  in  that  county.  Fish  and 
game  birds  were  plentiful ;  bears  and  deer  could  be  found 
in  the  woods  and  dense  swamps.  The  Davis  boys,  no 
doubt,  often  had  fine  sport  fishing  and  hunting  in  this 
new  country. 

The  schools  were  kept  in  log  cabins.     The  teachers 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 


usually  did  not  know  much  themselves,  but  believed  in 
severe  punishments  for  the  slightest  offenses  against 
"the  rules."  As  in  most  of  the  oldtime  schools,  the 
teaching  was  confined  largely  to  the  three  "R's, 
readin',  'ritin',  and  'rithmetic." 
It  was  in  one  of  these  log-cabin  schools  that  little 


i4  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Jefferson  began  his  education.  He  was  about  five  years 
old  when  he  first  went  to  school.  His  sister  Polly, 
about  seven,  went  with  him. 

In  the  neighborhood,  there  lived  an  old  chair  mender, 
who  would  go  about  from  house  to  house  and  collect 
the  chairs  to  be  mended.  As  he  carried  them  himself, 
on  his  arms,  back,  shoulders,  or  even  on  his  head,  he  was 
a  queer  sight.  At  a  distance,  it  was  sometimes  almost 
impossible  to  tell  what  kind  of  animal  he  really  was. 
Also  he  was  apt  to  drink  too  much,  and  then  he  was 
troublesome  and  even  dangerous.  The  children  for 
miles  around  were  very  much  afraid  of  him. 

One  day  when  Jefferson  and  Polly  were  going  through 
the  loneliest  part  of  the  woods  to  school,  with  their 
dinner  in  a  basket,  they  saw  coming  towards  them 
what  they  thought  to  be  the  drunken  chair  mender. 
They  were  badly  frightened,  but  Jefferson  took  his 
sister's  hand  and  said,  "We  will  not  run,  Polly." 

The  object  slowly  drew  nearer,  while  they  trembled 
and  waited  in  dread  at  what  the  old  chair  mender  might 
do.  On  it  came,  until  it  was  near  enough  for  them  to 
see  that  it  was  a  wild  deer  with  great,  branching  horns. 
It  gazed  at  them  for  a  few  moments  with  its  large,  round 
eyes,  then  turned  and  bounded  off  into  the  forest. 

This  school  did  not  last  long,  and  Jefferson's  first 
term  came  to  a  close  without  his  having  learned  very 
much. 


IN  SCHOOL  AND   COLLEGE  15 

CHAPTER  III 

IN   SCHOOL  AND   COLLEGE 

When  Jefferson  was  seven  years  old,  he  was  sent  to  a 
Catholic  school  in  Kentucky,  known  as  St.  Thomas's 
School. 

As  there  were  then  no  steamboats  on  the  Mississippi 
River  and  no  stagecoaches  running  from  Mississippi 
to  Kentucky,  he  made  the  trip  from  his  home  to  St. 
Thomas's  on  horseback.  He  went  in  company  with  a 
Major  Hinds  and  his  family.  Major  Hinds  had  a  son, 
Howell,  of  about  Jefferson's  own  age,  who  also  went  with 
them.  No  doubt  these  two  boys  rode  side  by  side  and 
spent  a  great  part  of  their  time,  as  they  went  along,  in 
talking  of  the  country  and  the  interesting  things  they 
saw  on  the  way. 

The  journey  was  several  weeks  long.  At  night  they 
usually  camped,  but  once  or  twice  they  had  the  op- 
portunity of  spending  the  night  at  the  "Stands." 
These  Stands,  as  they  were  called,  were  a  sort  of  inn 
kept  by  Indians  or  Frenchmen,  where  tired-out  travelers, 
or  those  too  sick  to  go  on,  might  rest  and  recover  their 
health  and  strength. 

On  the  way  they  passed  many  men  who  were  return- 
ing to  their  homes  far  up  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers.     These  men  had  gone  down  the  river  on  rafts 


16  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

and  flatboats  to  New  Orleans  and  were  now  making 
their  way  back  home  on  foot. 

In  St.  Thomas's  School,  which  was  kept  by  Do- 
minican priests,  Jefferson  was  the  youngest  pupil. 
He  was  very  lonely,  and  as  all  the  other  boys  were 
Catholics,  he  decided  that  he  too  would  become  a 
Catholic.  So  one  day  he  went  to  speak  with  one  of  the 
priests  about  the  matter.  He  found  the  priest  eating 
his  lunch.  Jefferson  told  him  of  what  he  was  thinking. 
The  priest  listened  attentively  to  what  he  had  to  say, 
then  gave  him  some  of  his  bread  and  milk,  and  told  the 
young,  would-be-Catholic  that  it  was  better  that  he  be 
content  for  the  present  with  some  Catholic  food.  The 
good  old  priest  knew  the  lad  was  too  young  to  choose  for 
himself  while  away  from  the  influence  of  his  parents. 

Little  Jefferson  was  so  lonely  that  one  of  the  old  priests 
took  him  to  sleep  in  his  room.  The  boys  of  the  school 
had  a  special  dislike  for  this  priest.  They  made  a  plot 
against  him  in  which  they  persuaded  Jefferson,  at  a 
given  signal,  to  blow  out  the  light  in  the  priest's  room. 
The  boys  then  attacked  the  priest  with  missiles  of 
various  kinds. 

The  priests  tried  to  find  out  who  the  plotters  were. 
They  believed  Jefferson  knew  more  than  he  would  tell. 
They  threatened  him  with  punishment,  but  they  did  not 
find  out  from  him.  One  priest  took  him  up  to  the 
top  story  of  the  building,  where  the  boys  were  usually 


IN   SCHOOL   AND    COLLEGE  17 

punished,  and  strapped  him  down  to  a  sort  of  frame 
made  for  the  purpose.  He  then  promised  the  boy  that 
he  would  not  punish  him  if  he  would  tell  what  he  knew. 
"I  know  one  thing,"  said  Jefferson.  " I  know  who  blew 
out  the  light.  It  was  I."  At  this  the  old  priest  was 
much  amused.  He  gave  Jefferson  some  advice,  and  let 
him  go  without  a  whipping. 

He  remained  in  this  school  two  years.  In  the  mean- 
time, steamboats  had  been  put  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  Jefferson  went  back  home  on  one  of  them. 
He  enjoyed  very  much  this  new  way  of  traveling. 

He  had  grown  much  larger  in  the  two  years  and  looked 
quite  different  from  the  seven-year-old  boy  who  had  gone 
away.  Just  before  he  reached  home,  he  decided  that 
it  would  be  good  fun  to  play  that  he  was  some  one  else, 
so  that  his  mother  would  not  know  him.  So  he  ap- 
proached the  house  and,  seeing  his  mother,  went  up  to 
her  and  said  in  a  careless  way,  "Have  you  seen  any 
stray  horses  around  here?"  "No,"  said  his  mother, 
"but  I  see  a  stray  boy,"  and  she  drew  him  close  to  her 
and  kissed  him.  She  was  very  glad  to  see  him.  He 
then  ran  into  the  fields  to  find  his  father,  who  was  also 
glad  to  have  his  boy  at  home  again. 

When  he  was  ten  years  old,  he  entered  Jefferson 
Academy.  One  of  the  teachers  in  this  school  did 
not  have  much  education  and  had  a  great  contempt  for 
Latin.     But  he  was  good-hearted  and  liked  Jefferson 

TWO   GREAT   SOUTHERNERS  —  2 


i8  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

and  used  to  call  out  to  the  young  student  whenever  he 
saw  him,  "Hello,  Jefferson,  how  are  you  getting  along 
with  your  hie,  haec,  hocV 

An  academy  was  established  in  his  home  county,  and 
young  Jefferson  at  once  entered  it.  One  day  the  teacher 
of  this  school  gave  a  longer  lesson  than  Jefferson  thought 
he  could  learn.  When  it  came  time  to  recite,  Jefferson 
did  not  know  the  lesson.  When  the  teacher  threatened 
to  punish  him,  he  took  up  his  books,  went  home,  and 
told  his  father  of  the  affair. 

His  father  listened  carefully  to  his  story  and  then 
said,  "Every  one  must  work,  either  with  hands  or  with 
head.  It  is  for  you  to  choose  with  which  you  will 
work  ;  of  course,  my  son  could  not  be  an  idler.  I  want 
more  cotton  pickers,  and  I  will  give  you  work." 

Jefferson  got  a  sack  and  basket  and  went  to  the  cot- 
ton field.  Up  and  down  the  long  cotton  rows,  he  picked 
for  two  days,  along  with  his  father's  negro  slaves. 
Then  he  decided  that  he  preferred  long  lessons  to  pick- 
ing cotton.  The  next  day  he  was  in  his  usual  place  at 
school  and  did  not  complain  any  more.  He  studied  so 
well  that  he  was  soon  able  to  enter  college. 

At  the  age  of  twelve,  he  was  sent  to  Kentucky,  where 
he  entered  Transylvania  College.  Here  he  was  very 
diligent  and  attentive  to  his  studies. 

Here  too  he  formed  a  close  friendship  with  a  youth 
from  Iowa  who  afterwards  became  General  George  W. 


AT   WEST   POINT  19 

Jones.  This  friendship  lasted  as  long  as  they  lived. 
General  Jones  tells  us  that  Jefferson  Davis  was  consid- 
ered by  the  faculty  of  the  college  the  brightest  and  most 
intelligent  of  all  the  boys,  and  that  his  fellow-students 
thought  he  was  the  bravest  and  handsomest  of  all.  He 
was  a  good  student,  always  prepared  with  his  lessons, 
and  respectful  and  polite  to  the  president  and  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  college. 

In  appearance,  he  was  attractive,  strongly  built,  and 
very  manly  in  bearing.  At  college,  as  well  as  all  his 
life  afterward,  he  was  gay  and  "brimful  of  buoyant 
spirit,"  but  at  the  same  time,  gentle  and  refined. 

He  remained  at  Transylvania  until  he  was  in  his 
senior  year,  when  he  received  an  appointment  to  West 
Point,  where,  as  you  know,  officers  for  the  United  States 
army  are  trained. 

CHAPTER  IV 

AT   WEST   POINT 

On  July  4,  1824,  when  Jefferson  was  about  sixteen 
years  old,  his  father  died.  Jefferson  was  still  at  Tran- 
sylvania. The  last  time  he  had  seen  his  father  was  on 
leaving  home  to  go  to  college.  Samuel  Davis  had  bid- 
den his  son,  Jefferson,  "good-by"  and  was  leaving  the 
house  to  ride  over  the  plantation.     The  horse  which  he 


20  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

intended  to  ride  was  restless  and  would  not  be  still 
long  enough  for  him  to  put  his  foot  in  the  stirrup  to 
mount.  At  last,  becoming  impatient,  he  leapt,  at  a 
single  spring,  on  to  the  horse's  back  and  rode  away. 
Jefferson  left  for  Transylvania  before  his  father  returned 
to  the  house  and  never  saw  him  again. 

He  was  much  affected  by  the  news  of  his  father's 
death,  for  he  loved  him  tenderly.  On  one  occasion, 
after  Jefferson  had  reached  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  he 
attempted  to  read  in  public  one  of  his  father's  letters. 
So  many  memories  of  his  parent  were  recalled  that  he 
was  choked  with  sobs  and  compelled  to  stop. 

His  love  and  veneration  for  his  father  were  very 
great.  In  after  years,  when  he  was  about  seventy-eight 
years  old,  he  gave  the  place  of  his  birth  to  the  Baptists 
of  Fairview,  Kentucky,  as  a  site  for  a  new  church.  He 
was  asked  why  he,  not  being  a  Baptist,  should  give  the 
property  to  the  Baptists.  "I  am  not  a  Baptist,"  said 
he,  "but  my  father,  who  was  a  better  man  than  I  am, 
was  a  Baptist." 

It  seems  that  there  was  always  a  great  deal  of  warlike 
blood  in  the  Davis  family.  Jefferson  Davis  himself 
once  said,  "  My  father  and  my  uncle  fought  through  the 
Revolution  of  1776  .  .  .  ;  three  of  my  brothers  fought 
in  the  War  of  181 2.  Two  of  them  were  comrades  of 
the  'Hero  of  the  Hermitage'  at  New  Orleans  and  re- 
ceived his  commendation  for  gallantry." 


AT  WEST  POINT  21 

So,  when  Jefferson  at  sixteen  received  the  appoint- 
ment to  the  military  school  at  West  Point,  we  are  not 
surprised  to  find  his  eldest  brother,  Joseph,  urging  him  to 
accept  it  and  become  a  soldier ;  nor  are  we  surprised 
to  find  Jefferson  perfectly  willing  to  do  so. 

At  West  Point,  his  life  was  not  very  different  from 
that  of  most  other  military  cadets.  His  figure  was 
soldierlike  and  rather  robust ;  his  step  was  quick  and 
springy,  like  the  tread  of  an  Indian  brave  on  the  war- 
path. It  is  said  he  was  distinguished  in  the  corps  for  his 
manly  bearing  and  his  high-toned,  lofty  character. 

He  was  diligent,  but  he  did  not  stand  high  in  his  class. 
When  he  finished  the  four  years'  course  of  study,  he 
was  number  twenty-three  in  a  class  of  thirty-three. 
He,  however,  was  the  only  one  to  become  famous. 

At  West  Point  he  happened  to  be  disliked  by  one  of 
the  professors  who  never  let  an  opportunity  pass  with- 
out making  Jefferson  feel  this  dislike.  One  day  the 
professor,  in  a  lecture,  while  looking  straight  at  Cadet 
Davis,  said  that  we  ought  always  to  keep  our  presence 
of  mind,  but  he  doubted  not  there  were  some  persons 
who,  if  the  test  came,  would  forget  themselves  and  not 
know  what  to  do.  Young  Davis  knew  these  remarks 
were  meant  as  an  insult  to  him.  He  felt  it  keenly  but 
made  no  reply. 

The  test  soon  came.  The  class  was  one  day  at  work 
experimenting  with  fireballs  in  a  room  where  a  great 


!\ 


"c/3 


< 
Q 


o 


Z 

o 
ft, 

H 

a 


22 


THE   YOUNG   OFFICER  23 

quantity  of  powder  and  other  explosives  had  been  stored. 
One  of  the  fireballs  became  ignited,  and  there  was  great 
danger  of  the  entire  building  being  blown  up. 

Cadet  Davis  quietly  said  to  the  professor  who  had 
made  the  remark  about  presence  of  mind,  "What  shall 
I  do,  sir  ?  A  fireball  here  has  ignited."  The  professor 
threw  everything  aside  and  ran,  calling  to  the  cadets, 
"Run  for  your  lives!"  Davis  picked  up  the  fireball 
and  threw  it  from  a  window  and  thus  saved  the  building 
as  well  as  the  lives  of  his  classmates. 

During  the  time  the  cadets  are  being  trained  for  sol- 
diers at  West  Point,  a  sum  of  money  is  paid  them  regu- 
larly for  their  expenses.  Davis  saved  a  part  of  his  money 
every  month  and  sent  it  to  his  mother.  Once  or  twice 
she  returned  it  to  him  because  she  thought  he  really 
needed  all  he  received.  But  when  she  found  that  this 
gave  him  pain,  she  kept  it. 

He  was  graduated  from  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy  in  1828,  when  he  was  about  twenty  years  old. 

CHAPTER  V 

THE   YOUNG   OFFICER 

Immediately  after  his  graduation  from  West  Point, 
he  was  made  brevet  second  lieutenant  in  the  Sixth 
Regiment  of  the  infantry  of  the  United  States  army. 


24  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

He  was  at  once  sent  West  and  ordered  to  report  to  Major 
Bennett  Riley.  The  young  officer  dressed  himself  in 
full  uniform  and  reported  as  ordered. 

The  Major  was  a  blunt  old  soldier,  but  he  soon  be- 
came very  fond  of  Lieutenant  Davis  and  always  spoke 
to  him  when  off  duty  as  "my  son."  Eighteen  years 
afterwards  when  the  Mexican  War  began  they  met 
again.  "Well,  my  son,"  said  the  old  soldier  to  Davis 
as  soon  as  he  saw  him,  "here  we  are  again.  Good  luck 
to  you,  my  boy  !  As  for  me,  six  feet  of  Mexican  soil,  or 
a  yellow  sash."  A  yellow  sash  was  a  mark  of  a  general 
officer  and  it  was  a  much-sought  honor.  The  Major 
won  the  yellow  sash  and  Jefferson  Davis  won  fame. 

Lieutenant  Davis  was  soon  removed  to  the  First 
Regiment  of  infantry  as  a  full  second  lieutenant.  In 
1829,  he  was  stationed  at  Fort  Crawford  in  what  was 
then  Michigan  Territory,  but  is  now  Wisconsin. 

The  fort  was  in  need  of  some  repairs.  Lieutenant 
Davis  was  given  a  detachment  of  men  to  cut  timber 
for  this  purpose.  He  placed  his  men  in  little,  open 
boats,  and  they  had  their  food  supplies  and  tools  for 
cutting  and  rafting  timber  in  the  boats  with  them. 
They  were  guided  by  Frenchmen  called  voyageurs. 
These  men  knew  the  rivers  and  forests,  and  could  go 
where  they  wished  without  losing  their  way. 

The  party  had  gone  some  distance  up  the  Red  Cedar 
River,  when  a  band  of  Indians  on  the  shore  hailed  them 


THE   YOUNG   OFFICER  25 

and  demanded  that  the  white  men  come  ashore  and  sell 
them  some  tobacco.  The  young  lieutenant  and  his 
men  cautiously  rowed  near  the  shore  until  they  saw 
that  the  Indians  were  ready  to  fight  and  meant  to 
attack  them,  then  they  rowed  rapidly  away.  The 
Indians  leaped  into  their  own  canoes,  which  had  been 
hidden  in  the  bushes  at  the  water's  edge,  and  pursued. 

The  Indians  could  row  as  fast  as  the  white  men  could, 
and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the  Indians  would  over- 
take them,  until  Lieutenant  Davis  thought  of  rigging 
up  sails,  made  from  tent  covers.  After  this  was  done, 
the  Indian  braves  were  soon  left  so  far  behind  that  they 
gave  up  the  pursuit. 

Lieutenant  Davis  and  his  men  went  on  up  the  river 
till  they  found  trees  suitable  for  the  purpose  of  repairing 
the  fort.  Then  they  landed,  fixed  their  camps,  and  be- 
gan cutting  timber. 

There  was  great  danger  from  the  Indians.  One  day 
when  they  were  busy  cutting  near  the  river,  they  saw 
a  large  number  of  Indians  coming  up  the  river  in  canoes. 
The  Indians  were  dressed  out  in  their  feathers  and  red 
war  paint  and  were  singing  war  songs. 

The  timber  cutters  were  too  few  in  number  to  fight 
the  Indians,  so  they  hid  themselves.  A  canoe  landed, 
and  the  Indians  began  to  search  and  plunder.  One 
Indian  came  within  twelve  feet  of  where  the  young 
lieutenant  lay  hidden.     The  Indians   did  not  find  any 


26  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

of  them,  and  soon  went  back  to  their  canoes.  They 
then  paddled  on  up  the  river  and  were  soon  lost  to 
sight.  The  lumbermen  came  out  from  their  hiding 
places  and  began  cutting  timber  again,  glad  that  they 
had  not  been  found. 

The  woods  were  wild,  and  very  few  white  people  lived 
in  that  country,  and  they  only  to  the  south  of  where  the 
timber  cutters  were  at  work.  Not  much  amusement 
was  to  be  had  except  fishing  and  hunting.  But  the 
few  settlers  sometimes  gave  what  were  called  "gumbo 
balls."  These  were  dances,  at  which  the  refreshments 
served  were  large  bowls  of  gumbo  soup.  The  music 
for  the  dancing  was  made  on  fiddles. 

Once  the  fiddlers  were  sick  and  could  not  play  for 
the  dancing.  So  two  little  girls  were  placed  behind  a 
curtain  to  sing.  They  sang,  "The  moon,  it  is  a  rizin', 
Jinnie,  come  away."  The  young  people  danced  to  this 
music  till  early  in  the  morning  and  were  happy.  The 
timber  cutters  were  glad  to  lose  a  night's  sleep  for  such 
pleasures.  The  people  also  had  wolf  fights  for  amuse- 
ment. These  were  very  much  like  dog  fights.  The 
lieutenant  and  his  men  could  also  go  sleighing  when 
they  had  the  time. 

At  last,  the  timber  was  cut  and  fastened  together  in 
large  rafts  on  the  river.  It  was  then  drifted  down  to 
the  fort.  It  is  said  that  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  first 
lumberman  in  Wisconsin, 


THE   YOUNG   OFFICER 


27 


He  was  ordered  to  leave  Fort  Crawford  and  to  go  to 
Fort  Winnebago,  which  was  about  two  miles  from 
the  place  where  the  Fox  River  unites  with  the  Wis- 


consin. 


About  the  fort  there  were  many'lndians  who  spent  a 
great  deal  of  time  gambling  on  horse  rights.  Two 
horses  would  be  shut  up  together  in  a  large  stable  built 


;->-*m~_  j"v_^ 


FORT    WINNEBAGO 


of  logs,  and  then  made  to  fight  with  each  other.  The 
Indians  would  bet  on  which  horse  would  overcome 
and  be  victorious. 

These  Indians  were  very  dangerous  and  lurked  in  the 
forests  ready  to  kill  and  scalp  any  unfortunate  white 
man  whom  they  found,  especially  if  any  Indian  had 
been  killed  by  the  whites,  even  by  accident.  At  one 
time,  with  a  small  party  of  soldiers,  Lieutenant  Davis 
had  been  out  looking  over  the  country.     They  met  a 


28  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

large  band  of  Indians,  who  seemed  very  friendly. 
Lieutenant  Davis  asked  them  the  way.  One  of  the 
Indians  placed  himself  directly  in  front  of  the  white 
men  and  pointed  in  a  wrong  direction.  Lieutenant 
Davis  then  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  seized  the  Indian  by 
the  scalplock,  and  dragged  him  some  distance.  The 
Indians,  who  had  intended  an  attack,  were  so  frightened 
at  such  treatment  that  they  did  not  molest  Davis  and 
his  men  any  more. 

The  Indians  of  this  region  had  a  very  pretty  legend 
about  the  Fox  River,  and  they  told  it  to  Jefferson  Davis. 
They  said  that  ages  ago,  a  large  serpent  which  lived 
in  the  Mississippi  River  once  went  for  a  frolic  to  the 
Great  Lakes.  It  left  its  trail  through  the  prairie  and 
this  gathered  the  waters  of  the  meadows  and  the  dews 
from  heaven  as  they  fell,  and  became  the  Fox  River. 
If  you  will  look  on  the  map  and  see  how  crooked  and 
winding  is  the  course  of  this  river,  you  will  easily  under- 
stand how  a  simple-minded,  superstitious  race  could 
make  and  believe  such  fables. 

Here  Lieutenant  Davis  was  again  busy  with  repairs 
on  the  fort.  But  he  had  a  portion  of  time  to  spend  in 
reading,  studying,  and  in  riding  wild  horses.  He  had 
many  narrow  escapes  from  Indians.  Once  he  was  riding 
a  wild  horse  which  did  not  wish  to  be  ridden.  It  reared 
until  it  fell  in  trying  to  throw  its  rider  from  its  back. 
The  young  officer  leaped  off  as  the  horse  went  down, 


THE   YOUNG   OFFICER  29 

and  as  it  rose  he  again  with  a  sudden  spring  vaulted 
into  the  saddle.  The  horse  was  easily  ridden  then  and 
did  not  give  him  further  trouble. 

At  that  time,  there  were  large  lead  mines  at  Galena 
in  Illinois.  A  great  many  people  from  the  Eastern 
states  were  moving  to  these  mines  as  well  as  to  other 
places  in  the  great  West.  In  the  winter  of  1831, 
Lieutenant  Davis  found  a  large  number  of  these  people 
who  had  been  compelled  to  stop  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rock  River.  The  mail  was  also  stopped.  They  were 
all  anxious  to  cross  the  river,  but  they  could  not  because 
the  water  was  too  deep  to  be  forded  and  it  was  not  yet 
frozen  thick  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  horses  and 
wagons. 

Lieutenant  Davis  took  charge  of  affairs.  He  ordered 
the  men  to  cut  sheets  of  ice  from  the  river  and  place 
them  so  as  to  make  a  wide  road  across  the  river.  Water 
was  poured  over  each  of  the  blocks  and,  as  the  water 
was  freezing,  the  blocks  of  ice  were  held  fast  in  place. 
Several  men  fell  into  the  freezing  water,  but  they  would 
go  to  a  large  fire  which  had  been  built,  and  as  soon  as 
they  were  dry,  they  would  go  back  to  cutting  and  carry- 
ing ice  blocks  and  water.  In  this  way  the  work  was 
kept  going.  Layer  after  layer  of  the  ice  was  placed 
and  water  poured  over  it,  until  there  was  a  good  strong 
passage  across  the  river.  The  people  then  drove  over 
in  safety. 


30  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

CHAPTER  VI 

IN    THE    WEST 

The  year  1831  found  Lieutenant  Davis  on  the  Yellow 
River  building  a  fort.  While  here,  he  was  adopted 
"within  the  sacred  bond  of  brotherhood"  by  an  old 
Indian  chief  who  loved  him  very  much,  and  who  after- 
wards called  him  "Little  Chief." 

While  he  was  building  the  fort,  he  was  in  so  much  bad 
weather  that  he  had  pneumonia  and  was  very  ill  for 
quite  a  long  time.  He  grew  so  thin  that  James  Pember- 
ton,  his  negro  body  servant,  could  easily  lift  him  about 
from  place  to  place.  Every  day  he  was  lifted  by  James 
to  the  window  of  their  hut,  where  he  would  sit  and  direct 
the  work  of  building.  All  of  the  valuables  were  given 
to  James,  who  took  care  of  them  until  his  young  mas- 
ter was  well  again.  James  continued  to  be  a  faithful 
servant  of  the  family  for  many  years. 

In  1832,  the  Winnebago,  Sac,  and  Fox  tribes  of  In- 
dians began  a  war  in  Illinois.  Chief  Black  Hawk,  their 
leader,  was  a  bold,  crafty  warrior.  The  war  took  its 
name  from  him. 

The  United  States  government  called  for  volunteers 
to  help  the  regular  soldiers  fight  these  Indians.  General 
Scott,  at  that  time  commander  in  chief  of  the  Ameri- 
can army,  sent  two  young  lieutenants,  Jefferson  Davis 


IN  THE  WEST  31 

and  Robert  Anderson,  to  administer  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  these  volunteers.  It  is  said  that  Abraham 
Lincoln,  who  was  captain  of  an  Illinois  company,  had 
the  oath  administered  to  him  by  Jefferson  Davis. 

Lieutenant  Davis  took  part  in  the  war  and  was  at 
the  battle  of  Bad  Axe,  where  General  Atkinson  defeated 
Black  Hawk  and  his  warriors.  The  old  chief  and  most 
of  his  warriors  were  made  prisoners,  and  Jefferson  Davis 
was  sent  to  carry  them  to  St.  Louis.  By  his  kind  treat- 
ment of  these  Indians  he  made  them  his  friends. 

As  they  went  down  the  Mississippi  River,  some  of  the 
Indians  were  attacked  by  the  dread  Asiatic  cholera 
which  was  then  epidemic  in  the  United  States.  There 
were  two  Indian  braves  who  had  sworn  an  "oath  of 
friendship."  This  was  a  common  custom  among  the 
Indians.  It  bound  each  to  love  and  never  to  forsake 
the  other.  These  two  Indians  were  very  ill  with  cholera 
and  they  had  no  hope  of  living.  So  they  begged  to  be 
put  ashore  to  die. 

Lieutenant  Davis  was  deeply  touched  with  pity,  and 
so  he  yielded  to  their  entreaties  and  put  them  ashore. 
When  last  he  saw  them,  the  stronger  Indian  was  sup- 
porting the  head  of  the  other  on  his  lap.  Davis's  heart 
ached  to  leave  them  alone  on  the  banks  of  this  great 
"Father  of  Waters,"  but  it  was  their  wish.  He  never 
knew  their  fate. 

When  this  campaign  against  the  Indians  was  over, 


32  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

the  young  officer  was  highly  praised  by  his  superior 
officers  for  the  soldierlike  manner  in  which  he  had  con- 
ducted himself.  But  he  always  said  the  Indians  were 
the  real  heroes  of  the  war,  because  they  had  fought 
bravely  for  what  they  thought  were  their  rights.  The 
women  as  well  as  the  men  had  fought  and  endured  hard- 
ships with  patience  and  courage. 

Upon  his  return  from  carrying  the  Indians  to  St. 
Louis,  he  was  sent  to  remove  the  squatters  who  had 
taken  possession  of  the  lands  and  lead  mines  about 
Dubuque,  left  vacant  by  the  removal  of  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes.  Two  other  lieutenants  had  already  failed  to 
induce  these  people  to  move.  They  felt  that  they  had 
a  right  to  settle  there  and  they  were  ready  to  fight  for 
their  rights.  Lieutenant  Davis  met  them  and  explained 
what  he  had  come  for.  He  told  them  that  the  lands 
belonged  to  the  United  States  government,  and  that 
the  rights  of  the  people  would  be  protected  just  as  soon 
as  the  claims  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  could  be  managed. 

The  squatters  grumbled  and  threatened  and  appeared 
to  be  dangerous,  but  Lieutenant  Davis  told  them  that 
if  they  would  think  over  what  he  had  said  to  them,  he 
was  sure  they  would  be  willing  to  leave  without  trouble. 
Next  day  when  he  went  back  for  their  answer,  he  was 
told  that  they  had  said  they  would  kill  him  if  he  came 
to  the  house  where  they  were  gathered.  But  he  walked 
straight  to  it,  went  in,  and  spoke  to  them  pleasantly. 


IN  THE   WEST  33 

They  all  finally  agreed  to  move.  One  woman  who  was 
unable  to  move  at  that  time  was  allowed  to  stay  in  her 
husband's  cabin,  as  the  winter  was  very  severe.  She 
was  ever  afterwards  one  of  his  most  faithful  friends. 

About  this  time,  there  came  a  very  severe  test  of  the 
principles  of  Lieutenant  Davis.  The  tariff  is  the  amount 
of  money  which  must  be  paid  by  the  owner  of  certain 
goods  when  they  are  brought  into  a  country  or  carried 
out  of  it.  A  tariff  may  be  charged  for  the  support 
of  the  government  only.  In  this  case,  it  is  usually  not 
very  heavy  and  is  easily  paid.  Or,  a  tariff  may  be 
charged  on  goods  for  the  protection  of  manufacturers 
of  the  same  kind  of  goods  in  the  country  where  the 
tariff  is  to  be  paid.  In  this  case,  it  is  almost  always 
heavy,  and  it  often  seems  to  be  extremely  unjust  to  the 
consumers  of  the  goods. 

The  United  States  Congress  passed  an  act  in  1816 
providing  for  a  protective  tariff,  which  was  increased 
in  1828.  It  was  passed  in  order  to  encourage  the  manu- 
facture of  certain  kinds  of  goods  in  our  country  by 
charging  other  countries  for  the  right  to  bring  their 
goods  here  to  sell  them.  Without  the  tariff,  other 
countries  could  send  goods  here  and  sell  them  to  us 
cheaper  than  our  own  factories  could  sell  them  to  us. 
In  such  a  case,  without  a  tariff,  we  should  soon  have  no 
factories  making  such  goods.  Now,  as  it  is  well  for 
every  country  to  have  factories  of  its  own  to  supply 

TWO   GREAT   SOUTHERNERS — 3 


34  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

people  with  work  to  do  and  also  to  be  independent  in 
case  of  war,  it  is  often  best  to  have  a  protective  tariff. 

But  the  tariff  of  1828  was  working  hardships  upon  the 
people  of  the  South.  They  had  no  factories  through 
which  they  might  receive  any  profit  arising  from  the 
tariff,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  were  compelled 
to  pay  higher  prices  for  their  supplies  of  clothing,  house- 
hold furniture,  and  metal  goods  of  all  kinds. 

So  it  happened  that  this  tariff  question  had  stirred  up 
a  great  deal  of  discussion  and  bitter  feeling  in  the  South. 
Indeed,  the  people  of  South  Carolina  called  a  conven- 
tion which  adopted  what  was  called  the  Ordinance  of 
Nullification.  It  declared  that  Congress  had  no  right 
to  enact  a  protective  tariff.  The  tariff  was  declared  to 
be  "null  and  void."  It  ordered  that  no  more  duties 
should  be  paid  in  South  Carolina  after  February  1,  1833. 
It  declared  that,  if  the  Federal  government  tried  to  force 
the  payment  of  duties,  South  Carolina  would  no  longer 
remain  in  the  Union,  but  would  withdraw  and  set  up  an 
independent  government.  The  legislature  of  the  State 
confirmed  the  Ordinance  of  Nullification  and  passed  the 
laws  which  were  needed  to  give  it  force. 

Then  President  Andrew  Jackson  sent  troops  and  ships 
of  war  to  Charleston  to  be  ready  to  collect  the  tariff 
by  force,  if  necessary.  As  Lieutenant  Davis  was  in  the 
United  States  army,  he  thought  that  he  might  be  sent 
to  help  force  South  Carolina  to  pay  the  tariff.     Now, 


IN  THE  WEST  35 

he  did  not  believe  that  the  Federal  government  had  the 
right  to  force  any  state  to  pay  the  tariff.  So  he  himself 
tells  us  that,  though  he  was  by  choice  and  education  a 
soldier,  nevertheless  he  determined  to  resign  his  com- 
mission in  the  army  rather  than  aid  in  forcing  South 
Carolina  to  pay  a  protective  duty.  In  1833,  however,  a 
compromise  was  effected  by  the  great  Henry  Clay,  and 
Lieutenant  Davis  was  thus  freed  from  such  a  step. 

During  the  same  year,  a  regiment  of  mounted  soldiers 
called  dragoons  was  organized  in  the  United  States 
army.  Jefferson  Davis  was  made  a  first  lieutenant  in 
this  regiment  and  was  given  duty  as  an  adjutant.  In 
this  capacity,  he  went  with  his  regiment  among  the 
Indians  of  the  Western  plains. 

Some  of  the  Indians  were  dissatisfied  and  unfriendly 
to  the  United  States  government.  The  purpose  of  the 
expedition  was  to  cultivate  the  respect  and  good  will  of 
the  Indians,  and  also  to  impress  them  with  the  military 
power  of  the  United  States. 

One  day  the  soldiers  met  a  large  party  of  warriors 
and  stopped  to  hold  a  "powwow"  with  them.  Lieu- 
tenant Davis  grew  tired  of  listening  to  this,  so  he  took 
an  Indian  up  behind  him  on  his  horse  and  rode  off  to 
look  about,  carrying  the  Indian  for  a  guide.  They  went 
a  considerable  distance  and  were  just  about  to  enter  the 
mouth  of  a  deep  canon,  when  the  Indian  all  at  once 
uttered  a  strange  cry  which  Lieutenant  Davis  mistook 


DAVIS    AT   THE    INDIAN    VILLAGE 


36 


IN  THE   WEST  37 

for  a  hostile  call  to  other  Indians.  He  was  somewhat 
frightened  and  drew  his  pistol  on  the  Indian. 

The  "brave"  was  more  frightened  than  Davis  and 
quickly  made  signs  that  he  was  friendly  and  did  not 
mean  any  harm.  He  uttered  the  cry  again,  and  they 
saw  a  ladder  let  down  the  walls  of  the  canon  from  the 
top.  They  climbed  up  this,  and  when  they  reached  the 
top,  they  found  themselves  in  the  Indian  village  from 
which  all  the  warriors  had  gone  to  the  "powwow." 

Only  the  very  old  men,  the  women,  and  the  children 
were  left  at  home.  They  had  swings  for  seats.  Soon 
they  brought  some  melons  and  cut  them  and  gave  some 
to  Lieutenant  Davis.  He  liked  them  and  ate  very 
heartily.  He  was  so  browned  by  being  in  the  sun 
so  much  that  he  was  almost  the  color  of  an  Indian. 
When  some  of  the  juice  of  the  melon  ran  down  his  arm, 
he  turned  his  cuff  back  to  dry  it  away.  The  Indian 
women  and  children  were  greatly  astonished  to  see  the 
white  skin  of  his  arm,  for  they  had  never  seen  a  white 
man  before.  Then  they  wished  to  examine  his  breast 
to  see  if  that  too  was  white.  They  wondered  greatly 
when  they  saw  that  it  was. 

For  some  time  he  told  them  funny  stories  and  kept 
them  in  a  good  humor.  When  he  had  rested  and  was 
ready  to  leave,  the  ladder  was  let  down,  and  he  was 
guided  back  to  his  friends  by  the  Indian  who  had  come 
away  with  him. 


38  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

The  soldiers  killed  a  great  many  buffaloes  on  this 
expedition,  sometimes  they  had  almost  no  food  but 
buffalo  flesh.  Lieutenant  Davis  had  some  experience 
in  cooking.  He  tried  to  make  soup  from  the  buffalo 
meat,  but  as  they  had  no  flour,  it  was  pretty  thin.  He 
always  declared  afterwards  that  it  made  no  difference 
how  much  buffalo  flesh  might  be  put  in  the  water  to 
boil,  there  could  be  "no  soup  without  flour,  but  just 
tea." 

On  these  western  expeditions,  he  learned  to  make 
himself  content  with  any  food  that  might  be  put  before 
him.  He  never  complained  of  his  food,  for  he  used  to 
say  that  there  are  so  many  pleasures  higher  than  that 
of  eating. 

CHAPTER  VII 

THE   PLANTER   AND   POLITICIAN 

In  1835,  when  Lieutenant  Davis  was  just  twenty-eight 
years  old,  he  retired  from  the  army. 

Two  years  before,  when  he  had  been  at  Fort  Crawford, 
Colonel  Zachary  Taylor  had  been  the  commander  of 
the  fort.  Colonel  Taylor  had  been  visited  there  by  his 
wife  and  daughters.  Lieutenant  Davis  had  met  them, 
and  he  and  Miss  Sarah  Knox  Taylor  had  become  en- 
gaged.    Soon  after  Lieutenant  Davis  retired  from  the 


THE   PLANTER  AND   POLITICIAN 


39 


army,  they  were  married  at  the  home  of  the  young 
lady's  aunt  near  Louisville,  Kentucky. 

His  oldest  brother,  Joseph,  now  gave  him  an  estate, 
which  he  called  Brierfield.  It  was  given  in  payment 
for  Jefferson's  interest  in  their  father's  slaves.  Before 
it  was  cleared  for  cultivation,  the  land  was  covered  with 
briers,  and  that  is  why  Jefferson's  part  was  called  Brier- 


«r    SCs~,S=Ss!^s^,       lfl\ 


BRIERFIELD 


field.  It  was  cut  from  Joseph's  own  estate,  Hurricane, 
in  Warren  County,  Mississippi,  and  was  situated  about 
twenty  miles  below  Vicksburg. 

Mr.  Davis,  now  a  planter,  took  his  young  wife  to 
this  place,  and  began  cotton  planting.  The  place  was 
very  unhealthful,  and  before  a  year  had  passed,  both 
were  ill  with  fever.     Mrs.  Davis  did  not  recover,  and 


4o  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

for  a  long  time,  the  young  planter  himself  was  hardly 
expected  to  get  well.  At  last  though,  when  he  was 
strong  enough,  he  took  a  trip  to  Cuba,  which  helped  him. 

While  he  was  in  Havana,  the  lonely  young  planter 
amused  himself  studying  the  defenses  and  fortifications 
of  the  city.  There  was  in  him  still,  more  of  the  soldier 
than  of  the  planter. 

One  day  he  learned  that  a  vessel  was  just  ready  to  sail 
for  New  York.  He  suddenly  was  seized  with  a  desire 
to  be  at  home  again,  and  at  once  embarked.  He  landed 
in  New  York,  went  to  Washington  City,  and,  after  some 
time  spent  there,  returned  to  his  plantation  in  Missis- 
sippi. 

He  now  remained  closely  at  home.  Often  he  did  not 
leave  the  plantation  for  a  whole  year  at  a  time.  His 
plantation  joined  that  of  his  brother  Joseph,  a  wise, 
experienced  man.  Jefferson  loved  him  as  a  father, 
and  said  of  him,  "He  is  a  profound  lawyer,  a  wise 
man,  and  a  bold  thinker.  ...  To  him,  materially  as 
well  as  intellectually,  I  am  more  indebted  than  to  all 
other  men."  As  the  neighboring  country  was  but 
thinly  settled,  Jefferson  had  no  regular  associate  but 
this  brother. 

He  applied  himself  diligently  to  improving  and  cul- 
tivating his  farm,  and  managed  it  so  well  that  soon  he 
had  amassed  a  considerable  fortune.  He  also  spent  a 
large  portion  of  his  time  in  reading  and  studying  subjects 


THE   PLANTER   AND    POLITICIAN  41 

bearing  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the 
politics  and  history  of  our  country.  The  two  brothers 
talked  a  great  deal  on  these  matters.  His  mind  was 
greatly  enlarged  and  strengthened  by  his  reading  and 
study  and  by  this  association  with  his  brother. 

His  slaves  and  all  the  people  in  his  employ  loved  him 
very  much,  for  he  was  kind  to  them.  His  millwright 
was  a  tall,  awkward  man,  but  he  had  a  good  heart. 
The  millwright's  wife  was  afflicted  with  a  cancer.  One 
day  Mr.  Davis  asked  him  why  she  was  not  taken  to 
New  Orleans  to  have  it  cured.  When  the  millwright 
replied  that  he  did  not  have  the  money  to  do  so,  Mr. 
Davis  gave  him  five  hundred  dollars  and  told  him  to 
take  her  to  New  Orleans  and  have  her  cured  if  it  were 
possible. 

In  1843,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  and  eight  years  after 
leaving  the  army,  Mr.  Davis  was  persuaded  by  the 
Democratic  party  of  his  county  to  be  a  candidate  for  the 
Mississippi  legislature.  There  were  a  great  many  more 
Whigs  than  Democrats  in  the  county,  so  he  was  de- 
feated. He  had  expected  this  and  had  become  a  candi- 
date only  because  he  thought  it  was  his  duty  to  his 
party. 

But  the  next  year  he  was  more  fortunate  in  politics, 
for  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  electoral  college  of 
Mississippi. 

In  1845,  he  married  a  second  time.     His  wife  was 


42  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

Miss  Varina  Howell  of  Natchez.     She  also  was  of  Welsh 
descent. 

During  the  same  year,  he  was  elected  to  Congress. 
He  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  soon 
after  the  opening  of  the  first  session  of  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Congress,  December,  1845.  He  took  a  lively 
interest  in  all  questions  of  importance  that  came  up, 
and  made  several  speeches  which  caused  him  soon  to 
become  well  known. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   SOLDIER  AGAIN 

In  1846,  a  war  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico 
began.  The  President  called  for  fifty  thousand  volun- 
teer soldiers.  Three  hundred  thousand  at  once  offered 
themselves. 

Mr.  Davis  was  elected  colonel  of  a  regiment  from 
Mississippi.  A  messenger  was  sent  to  Washington  to 
inform  him  of  his  election.  He  was  found  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  which  at  the  time  was  considering 
an  important  tariff  bill.  Mr.  Davis  at  once  agreed  to 
become  colonel  of  the  regiment. 

When  President  Polk  learned  these  facts  and  knew 
that  Mr.  Davis  intended  to  leave  Washington  as  soon  as 
arms  and  necessary  equipments  for  his  regiment  could 


THE   SOLDIER  AGAIN  43 

be  procured,  he  urged  him  to  remain  until  the  tariff  bill 
could  be  completed  and  passed.  The  President  prom- 
ised to  have  the  Secretary  of  War  send  arms  and  sup- 
plies for  the  regiment  so  that  no  time  need  be  lost.  So 
Mr.  Davis  consented  to  wait. 

Colonel  Davis  now  asked  for  a  thousand  percussion, 
or  cap,  rifles  of  a  new  kind,  for  his  men.  Up  to  that  time, 
the  old  flint  and  steel  rifles  had  been  in  use.  General 
Scott,  the  commander  in  chief  of  the  army,  objected 
to  the  regiments  being  armed  with  the  cap  rifles.  He 
thought  it  would  not  be  safe  to  undertake  a  campaign 
in  the  enemy's  country  with  these  rifles,  because  they 
had  not  been  tested.  Colonel  Davis  knew  what  sure 
marksmen  the  Missis sippians  were  with  rifles,  and  how 
little  faith  they  had  in  the  army  musket.  So  he  in- 
sisted on  having  the  percussion  rifles,  and  at  last  pro- 
cured them.  As  the  Mississippi  regiment  was  the  first 
to  be  armed  with  this  new  rifle,  it  was  afterwards  known 
as  the  Mississippi  rifle. 

Mr.  Davis  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1846,  and  hurried  away  from  Washington  to 
Mississippi  to  join  his  regiment,  which  already  had  set 
out  for  the  seat  of  war.  He  followed  and  overtook  it 
at  New  Orleans,  where  he  assumed  command.  From 
this  place,  they  were  transported  by  sea  to  Point 
Isabel  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  River. 

Here  they  were  delayed  for  several   weeks,  waiting 


44  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

for  boats  to  carry  them  up  the  river.  Very  few  of 
Colonel  Davis's  men  knew  anything  of  army  life,  and 
they  were  ignorant  also  of  military  tactics.  He  there- 
fore seized  the  opportunity  afforded  by  this  delay  to 
train  them  in  the  ways  and  habits  of  soldiers.  In  this 
attempt,  he  met  a  serious  difficulty  at  the  very  begin- 
ning. No  set  of  tactics  which  provided  for  training 
soldiers  armed  with  rifles  had  ever  been  made.  As  his 
regiment  was  armed  with  rifles,  he  set  to  work  and 
prepared  a  manual  of  arms  for  them.  He  himself  then 
began  teaching  it  to  his  officers  and  required  them  to 
teach  it  to  the  men  of  their  commands. 

The  private  soldiers  had  a  great  deal  of  amusement 
at  this.  Whenever  Colonel  Davis  and  his  officers  passed 
on  their  way  to  practice,  the  soldiers  would  say  in  low 
tones,  "There  goes  the  colonel  with  his  awkward 
squad."  However,  in  a  short  time,  the  regiment  was 
such  a  well-ordered  one  that  it  became  a  model  for  the 
volunteer  troops  of  General  Taylor's  army. 

At  last,  boats  were  sent;  and  Colonel  Davis  with  his 
regiment  went  up  the  Rio  Grande  to  Camargo  in  the 
Mexican  state  of  Tamaulipas.  He  reported  to  General 
Taylor,  who  was  encamped  at  this  place,  and  joined  his 
command. 

The  men  were  not  allowed  to  rest  long,  for  in  a  few 
days  General  Taylor's  army,  which  numbered  about  six 
thousand  men,  began  a  march  into  the  interior  of  Mexico. 


THE   SOLDIER  AGAIN  45 

The  destination  of  the  army  was  Monterey,  a  strongly 
fortified  city  on  the  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Madre  Moun- 
tains. This  city  had  a  garrison  of  regular  and  volunteer 
troops,  which  numbered  from  nine  to  fifteen  thousand 
men,  commanded  by  General  Ampudia. 

The  Americans  attacked  the  town  of  Monterey  early 
on  the  morning  of  September  21.  General  Worth  was 
sent  around  to  the  western  side  or  rear  of  the  town  to 
make  the  main  attack.  General  Taylor  himself,  with 
the  divisions  of  General  Butler  and  General  Twiggs, 
made  an  attack  on  the  opposite  side  in  order  to  draw 
the  attention  of  the  Mexicans  from  General  Worth's 
attack.  This  was  to  enable  General  Worth  to  get 
as  near  the  Mexicans  as  possible  before  they  should 
find  out  that  he  was  approaching. 

The  attack  on  the  front  by  General  Taylor  proved  to 
be  the  important  one.  General  Twiggs's  command 
suffered  severely,  and  General  Quitman's  brigade,  of 
which  Colonel  Davis's  regiment  was  a  part,  was  sent  to 
help  him. 

The  most  advanced  position  of  the  Mexicans  was  an 
old  tannery  built  of  stone,  which  had  been  made  into  a 
fort.  It  was  filled  with  infantry  and  protected  by  a 
redoubt  built  some  distance  in  front  of  it,  and  was  de- 
fended also  by  artillery. 

When  Colonel  Davis  received  orders  to  go  to  the  aid 
of  General  Twiggs,  he  and  his  regiment  eagerly  rushed 


46  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

forward  and  attacked  the  redoubt  and  soon  took  it. 
The  Mexicans  retreated  into  the  old  tannery  and  were 
trying  to  close  the  door  when  Colonel  Davis  with  his 
men  came  up  and  forced  it  open.  Some  of  the  Mexicans 
who  were  near  by  surrendered  immediately.  Among 
these  was  the  officer  in  command  of  this  fort,  who 
handed  his  sword  to  Colonel  Davis  in  token  of  sur- 
render. 

Meanwhile,  the  other  Mexicans  in  the  old  tannery 
were  running  away  to  another  fort,  El  Diablo,  about 
three  hundred  yards  farther  back.  Colonel  Davis  and 
his  men  pursued  them.  He  was  on  the  point  of  attack- 
ing El  Diablo  when,  for  some  reason  unknown  to  himself, 
he  was  ordered  back  by  General  Quitman.  He  did  not 
like  this  order,  but  as  he  was  a  well-trained  soldier,  he 
obeyed.  Colonel  Davis  was  now  forced  to  hold  his 
regiment  idle  under  a  most  destructive  fire  from  Mexi- 
can artillery  on  his  left.  He  was  very  impatient  at  the 
delay  and  the  useless  exposure  of  his  men.  He  was 
finally  allowed  to  undertake  an  attack  on  the  Mexican 
right,  but  before  he  could  get  near  enough  to  begin  the 
attack,  he  was  again  ordered  by  his  superior  officers  to 
fall  back.  As  he  was  coming  away  with  his  men,  he 
met  a  large  body  of  lancers  and  had  some  satisfaction  for 
his  other  disappointments,  in  putting  them  to  rout.  He 
was  not  engaged  in  any  other  fighting  the  first  day,  and 
on  the  second  day,  nothing  of  importance  was  done. 


THE   SOLDIER   AGAIN  47 

The  fighting  was  resumed  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
third  day,  September  22.  It  was  learned  that  the 
Mexicans  had  given  up  most  of  their  defenses  in  the  part 
of  the  city  nearest  the  American  army.  They  had  re- 
moved toward  the  citadel  and  grand  plaza. 

Colonel  Davis  again  was  ordered  to  take  possession  of 
El  Diablo,  the  fort  he  had  been  so  eager  to  take  on  the 
first  day  of  the  battle,  but  again  he  was  not  allowed  to 
take  it.  For,  before  he  could  accomplish  the  task,  the 
entire  command  of  General  Quitman,  including  Colonel 
Davis's  regiment,  was  ordered  to  make  its  way  cautiously 
into  the  heart  of  the  city.  Colonel  Davis  with  a  part 
of  his  own  regiment  and  a  part  of  a  Tennessee  regiment 
took  the  lead  in  this  movement.  It  was  extremely 
dangerous  and  difficult  but  it  just  suited  Jefferson  Davis, 
for  he  always  loved  adventure  and  danger. 

The  Mexicans  had  built  barricades  across  the  streets. 
From  behind  these,  from  windows,  and  from  the  battle- 
mented  roofs  of  the  houses,  they  were  able  to  kill  a 
great  many  Americans  with  little  danger  to  them- 
selves. At  the  same  time  they  swept  the  streets  with 
a  heavy  fire  from  their  cannon. 

While  Colonel  Davis  was  slowly  making  his  way 
through  these  difficulties,  it  was  proposed  that  the  Amer- 
icans should  bore  their  way  through  the  houses  instead 
of  going  through  the  open  streets.  The  houses  were 
built  very  close  to  each  other,  and  it  wTas  decided  to 


48  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

try  this  plan.  So  they  entered  houses  and  tore  their 
way  through  the  walls  from  one  to  the  next.  By  this 
plan,  they  were  not  much  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire. 
They  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  day  thus  in  making 
their  way  from  house  to  house  and  from  street  to  street. 
At  one  time,  Colonel  Davis  was  entirely  covered  with 
earth  and  rubbish  by  the  explosion  of  a  shell.  It  was 
reported  by  a  frightened  soldier  that  he  was  killed,  but 
he  was,  in  fact,  not  at  all  hurt. 

At  one  place,  they  had  to  cross  a  street  which  was 
swept  by  the  fire  of  the  Mexican  guns.  Colonel  Davis's 
plan  for  crossing  it  with  least  risk  or  loss  of  life  was  for 
himself  to  run  rapidly  across  the  street ;  then  others 
were  to  rush  across,  two  or  three  at  a  time.  It  was 
expected  that  the  Mexicans  would  fire  at  them,  and  while 
they  were  reloading  their  guns,  the  rest  of  the  Americans 
might  cross  in  safety.  So  when  they  were  all  ready, 
Colonel  Davis  led  the  way  and  a  few  others  followed. 
The  Mexicans  fired  away  at  them,  but  did  not  kill  any 
of  the  Americans.  Then  some  others  quickly  went 
across  in  safety,  though  the  Mexicans  were  doing  their 
best  to  kill  them.  Their  guns  were  soon  empty,  and 
then  all  the  Americans  rushed  across  the  street  as  had 
been  planned. 

By  evening,  the  Americans  had  come  within  two 
squares  of  the  main  plaza.  As  they  were  now  in  danger 
of  being  injured  by  shells  from  their  own  cannon,  they 


AT  BUENA  VISTA  ,     49 

were  ordered  to  fall  back.  This  they  did  and  thus 
closed  the  last  day  of  this  battle. 

Early  the  next  morning,  General  Ampudia  proposed 
to  surrender  to  General  Taylor.  The  terms  were  soon 
arranged  and  agreed  upon  by  these  two  generals,  and 
so  ended  the  fighting  between  them. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Monterey,  General  Taylor 
took  possession  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Mexican  states 
of  Tamaulipas,  Nuevo  Leon,  and  Coahuila.  Saltillo, 
the  capital  of  Coahuila,  was  headquarters  for  the 
American  army  during  the  winter. 

CHAPTER  IX 

AT   BUENA   VISTA 

A  great  part  of  General  Taylor's  army  was  now  taken 
from  him  and  sent  to  aid  General  Winfield  Scott  in  his 
campaign  against  the  city  of  Mexico. 

Santa  Anna,  the  commander  in  chief  of  the  Mexi- 
can army  and  President  of  the  Republic,  had  meanwhile 
raised  a  large  army,  which  was  stationed  at  San  Luis 
Potosi.  He  knew  that  General  Taylor's  army  had  been 
very  much  weakened,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  Febru- 
ary, 1847,  ne  moved  northward  to  meet  and  attack  him. 

As  soon  as  General  Taylor  knew  Santa  Anna's  plans, 
he  selected  a  strong  place  in  a  narrow  valley  which 

TWO    GREAT    SOUTHERNERS 4 


50  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

had  deep  gullies  on  one  side  of  the  road,  and  steep  hills 
and  cliffs  on  the  other.  This  place  was  about  seven 
miles  south  of  Saltillo  near  an  hacienda,  or  Mexican 
plantation,  called  Buena  Vista.  General  Taylor  now 
had  not  more  than  seven  thousand  men,  while  Santa 
Anna  had  from  fourteen  to  twenty-two  thousand. 

On  February  22,  Santa  Anna  sent  Taylor  a  summons 
to  surrender.  Taylor  replied  in  a  polite  note,  refusing  to 
do  so.  Soon  after,  the  Mexicans  made  an  attack  but 
not  much  righting  occurred  during  this  first  day.  This 
was,  however,  the  beginning  of  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista. 

On  the  night  of  the  first  day  of  the  battle,  General 
Taylor  and  Colonel  Davis  with  his  regiment  of  Missis- 
sippians  went  back  to  Saltillo  to  protect  that  place 
from  a  large  body  of  cavalry  that  was  threatening  it. 
Having  spent  the  night  at  Saltillo,  they  left  early  the 
next  morning  for  Buena  Vista. 

The  battle  of  the  second  day  had  already  begun 
when  Colonel  Davis  and  his  men  came  within  hearing 
of  Buena  Vista.  They  stopped  at  a  large  spring  by  the 
road  and  filled  their  canteens  with  water.  The  booming 
of  cannon  and  the  rattle  of  muskets,  rolling  and  rum- 
bling through  the  valleys  from  the  distance,  made  the 
men  eager  to  get  into  the  battle.  As  soon  as  all  were 
ready,  they  hurried  forward. 

When  Colonel  Davis  and  his  Mississippians  came  up 


AT  BUENA  VISTA  51 

to  where  the  fighting  was  going  on,  they  saw  a  most 
disgraceful  and  discouraging  sight.  Many  American 
soldiers  were  running  away  as  fast  as  they  could  with 
the  Mexicans  in  hot  pursuit.  Colonel  Davis  believed 
the  battle  would  be  lost  unless  some  bold  move  was 
made,  so  he  advanced  with  his  command. 

He  tried  to  induce  the  soldiers  who  were  running 
away  to  halt  and  renew  the  fight,  but  they  would  not 
stop.  So  he  ordered  his  men  to  open  their  ranks  to 
allow  the  retreating  soldiers  to  pass  through  to  the  rear. 
His  soldiers  obeyed,  and  then,  while  the  men  who  were 
running  away  passed  between  them,  eager  to  reach 
safety,  the  voice  of  Colonel  Davis  was  heard  above  the 
clamor  and  din,  coolly  calling  out  to  his  men,  "Steady, 
Mississippians !  Steady,  Mississippians !  Let  those 
people  who  are  running  to  the  rear  pass  through,  but 
hold  your  ground."  When  all  of  them  had  passed  to 
the  rear,  Colonel  Davis  gave  the  short,  crisp  order, 
"  Forward,  Mississippians  !  Forward  to  victory  ! "  The 
men  obeyed  at  once  and  rushed  forward.  Instead  of 
frightening  them,  the  sight  of  soldiers  running  away 
had  made  them  bold  and  more  determined  to  win. 

Colonel  Davis's  soldiers  were  soon  in  the  thickest  of 
the  fighting.  In  making  an  advance,  they  had  to  cross 
a  deep  ravine,  their  brave  commander  leading  the  way. 
While  he  was  in  the  bottom  of  the  ravine,  he  was  fired 
upon  by  a  great  number  of  Mexicans  who  were  on  the 


COLONEL  DAVIS   AT   BUENA   VISTA 


52 


AT  BUENA  VIST  A  53 

bank  above  him ;  but  he  and  his  horse  reached  the 
opposite  side  in  safety,  with  his  men  closely  following. 
They  were  using  their  new  rifles,  of  which  they  were  so 
proud,  with  good  effect,  and  they  soon  had  the  Mexi- 
cans running  away. 

Shortly  afterwards,  they  saw  approaching  a  large 
body  of  Mexican  cavalry,  over  one  thousand  strong. 
The  ground  was  very  rough  and  uneven,  and  it  was  a 
most  dangerous  place  for  infantry  to  be  attacked  by 
cavalry.  There  was  a  long,  deep  gully  here,  and  so  it 
appeared  best  to  Colonel  Davis  to  form  his  men  in  a 
V-shape  with  the  point  to  the  rear  and  the  legs  toward 
the  enemy.  The  Mexicans  would  thus  be  received 
between  two  lines  and  be  fired  upon  from  two  main 
directions.  So  he  formed  them  in  this  way  and  ordered 
them  to  stand  firm  and  not  to  shoot  until  the  lancers 
should  come  very  near  them. 

On  came  the  Mexican  lancers,  at  a  brave  gallop, 
closely  packed  and  looking  extremely  warlike  in  their 
handsome,  gayly  colored  uniforms  and  riding  their 
tough,  strong  horses.  But  when  they  had  come  to 
within  about  a  hundred  yards  of  the  Americans  and  saw 
that  they  were  not  going  to  run,  they  brought  their 
horses  to  a  walk.  The  Americans  at  once  opened  fire 
on  them  and  poured  such  a  volley  of  rifle  balls  among 
them  that  they  broke  and  fled. 

It  is  said  that  the  success  of  Colonel  Davis  in  repel- 


54  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

ling  these  lancers  won  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista  for  the 
Americans. 

He  was  next  ordered  to  help  Bragg's  artillery.  With 
his  men,  he  came  up  just  in  time  to  put  to  flight  a 
large  body  of  the  enemy  which  had  come  very  near  to 
the  battery  and  was  about  to  capture  it. 

Colonel  Davis  was  now  forced  to  retire  from  the  battle- 
field. He  had  been  severely  injured  in  the  foot  near 
the  beginning  of  the  battle,  but  he  had  not  stopped  to 
have  the  wound  dressed. 

General  Taylor  praised  him  very  highly  for  his 
bravery  and  soldierlike  conduct  in  the  battle  and  said, 
"Napoleon  never  had  a  marshal  who  behaved  more 
superbly  than  did  Colonel  Davis  to-day." 

Soon  after  this  battle,  the  time  for  which  Colonel 
Davis's  men  had  enlisted  was  out.  They  wished  to 
return  home  to  their  families  and  friends.  So  Colonel 
Davis  went  with  them.  He  was  still  on  crutches  from 
his  wound.  A  great  public  reception  was  given  them 
at  New  Orleans,  and  still  greater  ones  at  Natchez  and 
Vicksburg. 

Colonel  Davis  received  a  very  friendly  letter  at  New 
Orleans  from  President  Polk,  and  with  it  the  offer  of  a 
commission  as  a  brigadier  general  of  volunteer  forces. 
He  refused  it,  however,  because  he  thought  the  Presi- 
dent did  not  have  the  right  to  make  such  appointments. 
He  loved  the  life  of  a  soldier  and  would  have  been  glad 


THE   UNITED   STATES   SENATOR  55 

to  accept  the  commission  if  he  had  thought  that  it  came 
from  the  proper  source.  But  he  did  not  believe  the 
power  to  make  this  appointment  lay  with  the  Presi- 
dent, and  he  had  already  so  expressed  himself  more 
than  a  year  before. 

CHAPTER  X 

THE   UNITED    STATES    SENATOR 

When  Colonel  Davis  returned  from  the  Mexican 
War,  he  went  to  his  plantation  and  once  more  busied 
himself  with  his  own  affairs.  But  it  was  not  long 
before  Mr.  Spaight,  who  was  one  of  the  United  States 
senators  from  Mississippi,  died.  Mr.  Davis  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  to  complete  the  term,  and  the 
people  of  the  State  were  much  pleased  at  this. 

As  a  United  States  senator,  he  realized  the  weight  of 
the  people's  trust  and  took  a  deep  interest  in  all  matters 
touching  their  welfare.  He  carefully  studied  all  ques- 
tions which  came  up  for  discussion,  and  frequently 
spoke  on  them.  His  speeches  were  listened  to  eagerly, 
for  he  usually  understood  his  subject  so  well  that  he 
was  able  to  throw  much  light  upon  whatever  matter 
he  discussed.  The  great  historian  Prescott  said  that 
Jefferson  Davis  was  the  most  accomplished  man  in  the 
Senate  at  a  time  when  "it  was  full  of  giants," 


56  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

He  was  a  true  orator.  It  is  said  that  John  Quincy 
Adams,  who  was  himself  a  great  orator,  had  a  habit  of 
going  to  hear  new  senators  make  their  first  speeches  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate  Chamber.  If  the  speech  pleased 
him,  he  remained,  but  if  it  did  not,  he  soon  went  away. 
When  Senator  Davis  rose  to  make  his  first  speech  in 
the  Senate,  Mr.  Adams  came  in  and  took  a  seat  near 
him.  As  the  speaker  went  on,  Mr.  Adams  became  in- 
terested and  did  not  leave.  At  the  close  of  the  speech, 
Mr.  Adams  went  over  to  some  friends  and  said,  "That 
young  man,  gentlemen,  is  no  ordinary  man.  He  will 
make  his  mark  yet,  mind  me." 

Senator  Davis  was  a  leader  in  the  Senate.  His  bear- 
ing and  character  were  quiet  and  dignified.  It  is  said 
that  he  had  almost  the  appearance  of  a  senator  of  old 
Rome.  He  did  not  seek  the  people's  favor,  but  he  did 
what  he  believed  to  be  right,  even  though  he  knew  they 
might  think  it  wrong.  His  education  at  West  Point 
and  the  reputation  which  he  had  won  in  the  army  gave 
great  weight  to  his  views  on  military  matters. 

He  was  kind  and  courteous  to  all.  He  knew  all  the 
people  who  worked  about  the  Senate  Chamber  and  was 
particularly  kind  to  them.  He  never  failed  to  ask  about 
them  and  their  families. 

The  legislature  of  Mississippi  elected  him  to  the  Sen- 
ate again  in  1851.  Then  his  political  party  wished  him 
to  be  a  candidate  for  governor  of  the  State.     He  be- 


THE   SECRETARY   OF   WAR  57 

lieved  it  his  duty  to  his  party  to  do  so,  and  he  accord- 
ingly gave  up  his  seat  in  the  Senate  and  entered  the 
race  for  governor.  He  was  defeated,  however,  by  a 
small  majority. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    SECRETARY   OF   WAR 

In  1852,  after  about  seven  years  of  continual  public 
service,  Mr.  Davis  was  again  free  to  retire  to  his  planta- 
tion. This  he  was  very  glad  to  do.  He  was  soon  busy 
looking  after  his  servants,  building  and  repairing  houses 
and  fences,  and  growing  his  crops.  But  he  had  not 
ceased  to  care  for  politics.  He  had  taken  a  lively  in- 
terest in  the  presidential  canvass  of  1852,  in  which 
Franklin  Pierce  was  elected. 

Mr.  Davis  was  now  invited  to  become  Secretary  of 
War  in  President  Pierce's  cabinet.  At  first  he  declined 
this  high  honor,  but  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  attend 
the  inaugural  ceremonies  at  Washington,  and  the  Presi- 
dent, on  meeting  him,  insisted  on  his  becoming  Secre- 
tary of  War.     He  at  last  yielded  and  accepted. 

In  this  position,  it  was  his  duty  to  look  after  the  or- 
ganization of  the  army,  the  kinds  of  weapons,  the  powder 
and  bullets,  the  rank  and  promotion  of  officers,  indeed 
everything  pertaining  to  the  army.     Because  of  his 


58  JEFFERSON    DAVIS 

education  at  West  Point,  he  understood  well  how  these 
things  should  be  done. 

While  he  was  in  the  Senate,  he  had  urged  that  a 
railway  be  built  to  connect  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
with  the  Pacific  coast.  As  Secretary  of  War,  he  was 
charged  with  the  task  of  sending  men  to  survey  the 
route  for  this  railway.  It  was  decided  that  a  new 
Senate  Chamber  and  Hall  of  Representatives  should  be 
added  to  the  Capitol.  Secretary  of  War  Davis  was 
given  the  money  and  authority  to  have  this  work  done. 
He  selected  Colonel  Montgomery  Meigs  for  this  task, 
and  it  was  carried  out. 

About  this  time  a  great  war  was  being  waged  in 
Europe  by  England  and  France  against  Russia.  It  was 
called  the  Crimean  War,  because  most  of  the  fighting 
was  on  the  peninsula  of  Crimea,  which  projects  into 
the  Black  Sea. 

Mr.  Davis  sent  Captain  George  B.  McClellan  to 
observe  the  fighting  and  to  learn  all  he  could  about  the 
different  modes  of  conducting  this  war.  Captain  Mc- 
Clellan performed  his  task  so  well  that  many  improve- 
ments in  the  American  army  resulted.  Secretary 
Davis  caused  changes  to  be  made  in  the  model  of  small 
arms.  Experiments  were  made  which  led  to  the  cast- 
ing of  cannon  so  that  they  would  be  hollow  without 
having  to  be  bored.  Before  this  time,  they  had  been 
cast  in  a  solid  piece  and  then  bored  hollow.     Two 


59 


60  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

regiments  each  of  cavalry  and  infantry  were  added  to 
the  regular  army. 

But  perhaps  the  most  interesting  experiment  was 
that  with  camels  to  be  used  in  the  army  for  carrying 
mail  and  military  stores  in  the  desert  lands  of  the  south- 
west of  our  country.  Mr.  Davis,  after  finding  out  all 
he  could  about  camels,  caused  thirty-four  to  be  pro- 
cured in  Turkey  and  Egypt.  They  were  put  on  ship- 
board, and  each  was  carefully  fastened  in  a  swinging 
harness  to  prevent  its  being  hurt  by  the  rolling  and 
plunging  of  the  vessel  at  sea.  They  were  watched  over 
by  Arab  attendants  who  knew  how  to  care  for  them. 
After  a  voyage  of  three  whole  months,  the  camels  were 
at  last  landed  in  Texas.  Their  joy  at  being  once  more 
on  land  was  so  great  that  they  at  once  began  to  run  and 
plunge  and  have  a  good  time.  The  next  year,  forty- 
one  more  were  brought  over,  making  seventy-five  in  all. 
They  were  all  put  on  a  ranch  near  San  Antonio  in 
Texas.  Test  trips  were  made,  and  their  speed  and 
endurance  were  found  satisfactory.  They  were  healthy 
and  were  doing  well  until  Mr.  Davis  went  out  of  office. 
No  one  gave  any  further  attention  to  them,  and  it  is 
not  known  what  became  of  them. 

It  is  said  that  if  the  Indians  of  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico  are  asked  about  the  camels,  they  will  tell  of  the 
"Red  Ghost"  that  sometimes  rushes  into  their  camps 
at  night,  frightens  the  horses  away,  eats  their  hay,  and 


THE   SENATOR   AGAIN  61 

fights  like  a  fiend  if  attacked.  The  cowboys  of  the 
Southwest  will  repeat  the  story  of  one  of  their  com- 
panions who  was  found  dying  in  a  canon,  and  who  re- 
vived just  long  enough  to  tell  of  a  great,  misshapen,  red 
beast  that  had  turned  upon  him,  and  bit  and  trampled 
him  after  he  had  wounded  it.  Whether  these  stories 
are  true  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  just  possible  that  a  few  of 
these  camels  are  yet  running  wild  in  Arizona. 

It  was  generally  agreed  that  Mr.  Davis  was  a  most 
excellent  Secretary  of  War,  being  broad-minded  and  at 
the  same  time  very  practical. 

CHAPTER  XII 

THE   SENATOR   AGAIN 

Mississippi  was  always  ready  to  honor  her  distin- 
guished son.  So  as  soon  as  his  period  of  service  as 
Secretary  of  War  had  expired,  he  again  entered  the 
United  States  Senate,  having  been  elected  by  the 
legislature  of  his  State  to  this  high  position. 

Our  country  now  was  being  deeply  stirred  by  the 
discussion  of  slavery  and  subjects  connected  with 
slavery  and  States'  Rights.  A  great  deal  was  being 
said.  Even  members  of  the  same  political  parties  dif- 
fered in  opinion  on  these  matters.  All  this  filled  the 
country  with  dread  for  the  future. 


62  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

No  statesman  of  the  times  saw  the  dangers  ahead 
more  clearly  than  did  Senator  Davis,  and  none  tried 
more  earnestly  to  avert  them.  He  urged  the  people  of 
the  South  to  be  patient  and  prudent.  But  he  never 
failed  to  stand  forth  and  declare  the  people's  rights.  In 
the  Senate,  he  was  often  in  debate  with  those  who 
differed  from  him  in  politics.  On  the  floor  of  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Davis  proved  himself  a  worthy  foeman  of 
the  famous  orator  and  statesman,  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
of  Illinois. 

During  a  part  of  this  term  in  the  Senate,  his  health 
was  so  bad  that  he  could  not  always  attend  its  sessions. 
He  was  thus  kept  from  speaking  as  often  as  he  thought 
it  was  his  duty  to  speak.  In  1858,  by  the  advice  of  his 
physician,  he  made  a  tour  through  New  England  with 
Mrs.  Davis  and  their  children.  They  spent  a  consid- 
erable time  at  Portland,  Maine. 

While  in  that  city,  he  made  several  speeches.  Of  one 
of  them,  a  Portland  paper  said,  "We  regret  that  our 
readers  can  get  no  idea  of  the  musical  voice  and  inspir- 
ing eloquence  of  the  speaker  from  a  report  of  his  re- 
marks." The  speech  was  published,  and  it  is  so  good, 
you  must  read  it  in  full  when  you  are  older. 

Senator  Davis  continued  his  journey,  and  on  his  way 
back  to  Washington,  made  speeches  in  Boston  and 
New  York.  His  views  on  public  matters  were  well  re- 
ceived, and  he  himself  was  greatly  honored.     When  he 


THE   SENATOR   AGAIN  63 

reached  Washington  again  about  the  end  of  the  year, 
his  health  was  much  improved  and  he  at  once  took  up 
his  duties  in  the  Senate. 

The  differences  of  opinion  between  the  North  and  the 
South  had  now  become  serious.  The  Dred  Scott  deci- 
sion, John  Brown's  Raid,  and  the  continued  discus- 
sions and  arguments  about  these  things  had,  by  i860, 
brought  the  whole  country  to  the  highest  pitch  of  ex- 
citement. Some  of  the  Southern  States  began  to  talk 
of  leaving  the  Union.  Several  states  finally  did  leave 
in  i860  and  1861.  They  united  and  formed  the  Con- 
federate States  of  America,  with  their  capital  at  Mont- 
gomery, Alabama. 

Senator  Davis's  views  are  clearly  shown  in  his 
speeches  at  this  time  and  also  in  some  resolutions  which 
he  introduced  in  the  United  States  Senate  in  February, 
i860.  He  believed  most  earnestly  in  States'  Rights. 
That  is,  he  claimed  that  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  when  England  recognized  the  independence  of  the 
thirteen  colonies,  each  was  a  free  and  independent  gov- 
ernment of  itself,  without  bond  or  duty  to  the  others. 
When  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  of  the  states 
came  to  be  formed,  there  were  various  interests  in  the 
different  states,  and  the  interests  of  one  section  some- 
times conflicted  with  those  of  another.  In  order  to 
form  the  constitution,  agreements  had  to  be  reached 
on  these  points  of  conflicting  interests. 


64  JEFFERSON    DAVIS 

The  question  of  slavery  had  been  one  of  these  points. 
Slavery  was  recognized,  and  agreements  concerning  it 
were  reached  and  written  down  in  the  constitution. 
Thus  the  constitution  was  really  only  a  sort  of  agree- 
ment between  the  different  states  by  which  they  were 
to  be  governed. 

Mr.  Davis  claimed  that  the  states  had  given  to  the 
general  government  of  the  United  States  only  a  part  of 
their  authority  and  that  any  meddling  of  one  state 
with  the  affairs  of  another  was  unconstitutional  and 
not  right. 

He  believed  that  since  the  free  states  had  now  become 
unwilling  to  abide  by  the  Constitution,  and  as  the  States 
had  entered  the  Union  of  their  own  free  will,  any  state 
had  the  right  to  leave  the  Union  whenever  it  felt  that 
it  had  just  cause  to  do  so.  Mr.  Davis  believed  that 
the  effort  which  it  was  expected  would  be  made  to 
free  the  slaves  of  the  South  was  contrary  to  the  Con- 
stitution, and  that  the  slave  states,  therefore,  had  the 
right  to  leave  the  Union  if  they  chose. 

We  have  already  seen  how  Mr.  Davis  had  shown  his 
belief  in  States'  Rights.  Again,  on  one  occasion  when 
Massachusetts  had  threatened  to  leave  the  Union, 
Senator  Davis  said,  "If  Massachusetts  should  choose  to 
take  the  last  step  which  separates  her  from  the  Union, 
it  is  her  right  to  go,  and  I  will  vote  neither  one  dollar 
nor  one  man  to  force  her  back." 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   STATES         65 

Mr.  Davis  loved  the  Union  and  had  spent  a  great 
part  of  his  youth  in  its  service.  He  did  all  in  his 
power  to  hold  the  Union  together  on  honorable  terms. 
So  unwilling  was  he  to  hasten  into  secession  that  he  was 
accused  in  his  own  state  of  being  too  slow  in  the  matter. 

But  when  Abraham  Lincoln,  with  his  clearly  stated 
intentions,  was  elected  President,  Senator  Davis  believed 
that  the  rights  of  the  southern  states  were  about  to  be 
violated  and  that  there  was  just  cause  for  secession. 
He  thought  the  separation  of  the  states  could  no  longer 
be  averted  with  justice  to  the  South,  and  now  he  boldly 
advised  it. 

As  soon  as  he  learned  that  Mississippi  had  severed 
her  relation  with  the  Union,  he  left  the  United  States 
Senate.  This  was  in  January,  1861.  Before  his  de- 
parture, he  made  a  farewell  address  to  the  Senate,  which 
is  said  to  have  moved  even  his  enemies  to  tears. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

PRESIDENT   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   STATES 

Mr.  Davis  reached  home  to  learn  that  he  had  been 
chosen  major  general  and  commander  in  chief  of  the 
volunteer  forces  of  his  beloved  state,  Mississippi.  He 
at  once  accepted,  for  he  wished  to  serve  the  South  as  a 
soldier  rather  than  as  a  statesman. 

TWO   GREAT   SOUTHERNERS — K 


66  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

He  was  very  anxious  that  peace  be  preserved  between 
the  Federal  and  the  Confederate  governments,  but  he 
feared  that  it  could  not.  He  therefore  set  actively 
to  work,  raising  an  army  and  supplying  it  with  arms, 
food,  and  ammunition. 

While  he  was  engaged  in  this  task,  getting  ready  for 
whatever  might  come,  a  "Provisional  Congress"  of  the 
Southern  States  met  at  Montgomery,  Alabama.  Among 
the  first  acts  of  this  Congress  was  the  election  of  Jeffer- 
son Davis  to  be  President  of  the  Confederacy  until  the 
government  could  be  definitely  established  and  a  con- 
stitution formed. 

As  has  been  said,  Mr.  Davis  much  preferred  to  serve 
the  new  government  as  a  soldier,  but  when  he  knew  that 
the  entire  people  of  the  Confederacy  wished  him  to  be 
their  President,  he  believed  it  his  duty  to  give  up  his 
choice.  This  he  accordingly  did  and  consented  to 
accept  the  office. 

He  went  at  once  to  Montgomery  and  was  inaugurated 
on  the  1 8th  of  February,  1861.  The  ceremony  of 
inauguration  took  place  at  the  State  House  of  Alabama, 
and  was  very  simple.  After  taking  the  oath  of  office, 
Mr.  Davis  delivered  an  inaugural  address,  which  was  a 
clear  statement  of  his  views  and  an  able  defense  of  the 
Confederate  cause.  It  was  listened  to  with  great  care 
by  the  thousands  gathered  to  witness  the  launching  of 
the  new  republic. 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   STATES         67 

President  Davis  at  once  chose  the  members  of  his  cabi- 
net. It  was  made  up  of  some  of  the  brightest  and 
ablest  men  of  the  Confederacy.  At  his  first  meeting 
with  his  cabinet,  he  told  them  he  hoped  they  would  be 
as  free  and  frank  with  him  as  he  would  be  with  them. 
He  was  always  ready  to  confer  with  his  cabinet  and  was 
never  hasty  in  making  a  decision  or  acting  without 
their  advice. 

There  was  a  general  desire  in  the  South  that  war 
between  the  states  should  be  avoided.  As  the  Confeder- 
ate Congress  had  expressed  a  wish  to  this  effect,  on  the 
25th  of  February,  1861,  President  Davis  appointed  three 
commissioners  to  go  to  Washington  to  try  to  arrange 
some  way  of  preserving  peace,  but  they  were  not  suc- 
cessful in  this  effort. 

In  April,  1861,  Virginia  separated  from  the  Union 
and  cast  her  lot  with  the  Confederacy.  Mr.  Davis 
at  once  proposed  to  remove  the  capital  to  Richmond. 
This  was  agreed  upon  and  Richmond  became  the  cap- 
ital of  the  Confederate  States. 

President  Davis  with  his  family  went  to  Richmond 
the  latter  part  of  May.  All  along  his  route,  he  was 
received  with  great  joy  by  the  people.  At  every  city, 
town,  and  village,  great  demonstrations  were  made. 
When  he  reached  Richmond,  he  saw  on  all  sides  prepa- 
rations for  war.  The  bright,  clean  uniforms  of  the 
thousands  of  soldiers,  their  shining  arms,  the  tented 


68  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

fields  about  the  city,  the  gold  braid  and  clanking  swords 
of  the  officers,  the  crisp  word  of  command,  the  music 
of  bands,  and  the  singing  of  patriotic  songs,  —  all  the 
splendor  as  well  as  the  dread  of  war  was  present.  The 
soldiers  were  being  drilled,  supplies  were  being  collected, 
and  everything  made  ready. 

The  people  of  Richmond  were  very  proud  to  have  the 
President  of  the  Confederacy  come  to  live  among  them. 
They  at  once  bought  a  noble  house  and  gave  it  to  him. 
He  refused  to  accept  it  as  a  gift,  but  consented  to  live 
in  it  if  the  city  would  take  rent  for  it  from  the  Confed- 
erate government.  He  thought  it  was  not  right  to 
allow  the  city  to  be  at  the  expense  of  providing  this 
house  for  him.     And  thus  he  refused  all  gifts  of  value. 

This  house  has  since  been  made  into  a  sort  of  museum 
where  each  of  the  Southern  States  has  a  room  in  which 
it  may  store  relics  of  the  war. 

In  November,  1861,  without  any  opposition,  Mr. 
Davis  was  elected  President  of  the  "permanent  gov- 
ernment" of  the  Confederate  States.  By  the  consti- 
tution formed,  the  President  was  to  hold  office  for  six 
years.  Mr.  Davis  was  inaugurated  February  22,  1862. 
The  ceremony  was  again  very  simple. 

Here  in  Richmond,  he  spent  the  four  long,  dark  years 
of  the  war.  There  was  little  time  for  social  pleasure 
and  entertainment  at  the  "White  House  of  the  Con- 
federacy," as  Mr.  Davis's  house  was  called,  for  he  was 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE    CONFEDERATE    STATES 


69 


very  busy.  Usually  he  worked  all  day,  and  left  his 
office  about  live  o'clock  in  the  evening,  unless  he  had 
pressing  business  which  prevented  his  leaving  at  that 
hour.     After  he  left  the  office,  he  would  take  a  ride  on 


From  an  Early  Print 
THE    WHITE    HOUSE    OF    THE    CONFEDERACY 

horseback,  usually  alone.  On  one  of  these  rides,  he 
was  fired  at  by  some  unknown  person  in  hiding,  but 
escaped  unhurt. 

Another  time,  he  had  been  alone  on  horseback  to  the 
camps  of  General  Lee,  who  was  then  near  Richmond 
with  his  army,  and  had  stayed  later  than  he  intended. 


V 


7o  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Long  before  he  reached  home,  darkness  came  on.  He 
was  riding  along,  his  mind  busy  on  his  cares  and  duties, 
when  he  heard  a  cheery  young  voice  call  out,  "Good 
evening."  He  turned  and  saw  approaching  him  a  boy 
about  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of  age,  with  his  army 
rifle  and  revolver,  and  wearing  the  gray  jacket  of  the 
Confederate  soldier. 

"  Is  your  name  Davis  —  Jefferson  Davis  ?  " 

"Yes,"  replied  the  President. 

"Well,  I  think  I  shall  guard  you  till  you  get  back 
nearer  home,"  said  the  boy. 

Mr.  Davis  explained  that  he  had  nothing  to  fear  as 
he  was  inside  the  Confederate  lines. 

"It's  not  right,"  said  the  young  soldier.  "There 
are  bad  men  in  our  army  as  well  as  in  all  armies."  And 
so  he  rode  on  with  the  President  until  they  were  near 
Richmond,  and  then  he  went  back  to  his  command. 

Mr.  Davis  often  visited  the  battlefields  about  Rich- 
mond during  the  war,  and  though  he  was  commander 
in  chief  of  the  Confederate  armies,  he  always  went 
without  a  guard.  He  had  the  greatest  faith  in  the  love 
and  respect  of  the  entire  people. 

President  Davis  did  his  best  to  give  the  Confederacy 
a  good  government.  He  gave  personal  attention  to  all 
its  departments.  There  were  those  who  complained 
and  abused  him,  but  it  is  now  known  that  he  was  a 
zealous,  self-sacrificing  patriot. 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE    CONFEDERATE   STATES 


71 


He  always  felt  deeply  for  the  suffering  and  misery  of 
others.  A  woman  whose  husband  was  sentenced  to  be 
shot  for  some  military  offense  went  to  the  President's 
house  to  beg  him  to  pardon  her  husband.  He  was  very 
busy,  but  he  listened  to  her  story,  and  then  wrote  a 
pardon  for  the  man.     He  asked  Mrs.  Davis  to  have  an 


--XZU. 


from  an  Early  Print 
THE    CAPITOL    OF    THE    CONFEDERACY 


early  dinner  prepared  for  the  woman  and  her  two  chil- 
dren, to  give  them  a  dollar  apiece,  and  send  them  home. 
Perhaps  you  will  be  amused  by  a  letter  which  a  young 
woman  wrote  the  President,  but  her  manner  of  spell- 
ing should  not  be  copied.     She  wrote, 


72  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

"Dear  Mr.  President :  I  want  you  to  let  Jeems  C.  of 
company  oneth,  5th  South  Carolina  Regiment,  come 
home  and  get  married.  Jeems  is  willin,  I  is  willin,  his 
mammy  says  she  is  willin,  but  Jeem's  captin,  he  aint 
willin.  Now  when  we  are  all  willin  ceptin  Jeems's 
captin,  I  think  you  might  let  up  and  let  Jeems  come. 
I'll  make  him  go  straight  back  when  he's  done  got  mar- 
ried and  fight  just  as  hard  as  ever. 

Your  affectionate  friend  etc." 

Mr.  Davis  wrote  on  the  back  of  the  letter,  "Let 
Jeems  go,"  and  sent  it  to  Jeems's  captain.  So  we  may 
imagine  that  Jeems  went  and  that  he  was  soon  married. 

CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   CLOSE    OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR 

At  last  the  men  and  resources  of  the  South  began  to 
fail.  After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  the  Confederacy 
was  never  able  to  replace  the  thousands  of  men  slain  in 
that  great  struggle. 

On  April  2,  1865,  General  Robert  E.  Lee  was  forced 
to  give  up  Richmond,  which  he  held  so  long  against  a 
vast  force  of  Union  troops.  President  Davis  learned 
this  fact  at  church  on  Sunday  morning.  He  quietly 
left  the  church,  went  home,  and  at  once  called  the  mem- 
bers of  his  cabinet  together.     After  a  talk  with  them, 


THE   CLOSE   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR  73 

it  was  decided  that  he  and  they  must  leave  the  city. 
They  hastily  collected  the  records  and  such  property  of 
the  government  as  could  be  carried  and  left  Richmond. 
Of  the  money  belonging  to  the  government,  he  distrib- 
uted to  soldiers  what  he  could  and  the  remainder  he 
placed  in  trust  to  be  given  to  Confederate  soldiers  later. 

The  cabinet  went  to  Danville,  Virginia,  where  Mr. 
Davis  expected  to  meet  General  Lee  and  his  army.  But 
he  was  disappointed  in  this  hope.  However,  he  issued 
a  proclamation  to  the  people  of  the  Confederacy,  which 
has  become  famous  as  showing  his  bold  and  deter- 
mined spirit.  After  speaking  of  the  misfortune  of  the 
Confederate  States  and  their  chances  for  recovery,  he 
closed  the  proclamation  with  these  words,  "Let  us 
then,  not  despond,  my  countrymen,  but  relying  on 
God,  meet  the  foe  with  fresh  defiance,  and  with  uncon- 
quered  and  unconquerable  hearts." 

While  in  Danville,  Mr.  Davis  stayed  at  the  home 
of  Major  W.  T.  Sutherlin.  When  he  was  ready  to  leave, 
Mrs.  Sutherlin  asked  him  if  he  had  any  money.  Mr. 
Davis  replied  that  he  had  none.  She  knew  he  would 
need  it,  so  she  offered  him  a  bag  containing  a  thousand 
dollars  in  gold.  "No,"  said  he,  "I  cannot  take  your 
money.  You  and  your  husband  are  young  and  will 
need  it,  while  I  am  an  old  man  and  I  suppose  I  shall  not 
need  anything  very  long." 

General  Lee  surrendered  to  General  Grant  on  the 


74  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

9th  of  April,  1865.  The  President  was  asked  if  he  did 
not  think  this  would  end  the  war.  "By  no  means," 
said  he,  "we'll  fight  it  out  to  the  Mississippi  River." 

President  Davis  was  very  much  grieved  because 
General  Lee  had  been  compelled  to  surrender,  but  he 
knew  that  it  could  not  be  helped.  He  still  hoped  that 
with  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston's  army,  he  might  yet 
win  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy. 

He  therefore  left  Danville  and,  with  his  cabinet,  went 
to  Greensboro,  North  Carolina.  Here  he  sent  for  Gen- 
eral Johnston  and  General  Beauregard  to  meet  with 
himself  and  his  cabinet.  He  wished  to.  learn  their 
views  relative  to  further  resistance.  Both  generals 
advised  him  that  it  would  be  best  for  General  Johnston 
to  surrender  and  make  an  effort  to  obtain  favorable 
terms  for  the  Confederacy.  This  course  of  action  was 
agreed  upon.  Soon  afterward,  General  Johnston  sur- 
rendered all  the  troops  east  of  the  Mississippi  River 
to  General  Sherman.  But  the  terms  which  were  made 
between  Johnston  and  Sherman  were  not  agreed  to  by 
the  authorities  at  Washington. 

Mr.  Davis  now  decided  to  go  toward  the  south  and 
to  cross  the  Mississippi  River.  He  went  from  Greens- 
boro to  Washington,  Georgia,  where  he  was  met  by  Mrs. 
Davis  and  their  children.  They  stayed  while  here  with 
the  family  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Robertson.  In  his  house,  the 
last  cabinet  meeting  of  the  Confederacy  was  held. 


THE   CLOSE   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR  75 

Mr.  Davis,  his  wife,  and  their  four  children,  with  two 
or  three  servants,  left  Washington  after  a  few  days  and 
traveled  south  through  Georgia.  They  were  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Reagan  of  Texas,  Captain  Moody  of 
Mississippi,  Governor  Lubbock  of  Texas,  Colonels 
Harrison  and  Johnston  of  his  staff,  and  a  few  scouts  and 
soldiers. 

By  the  evening  of  May  9,  they  had  reached  the 
vicinity  of  Irwinville  in  Irwin  County,  Georgia.  The 
party  camped  for  the  night  about  two  miles  from  Irwin- 
ville. They  were  all  very  tired,  and  all  slept  soundly 
except  the  pickets  they  had  posted.  Just  at  dawn,  a 
party  of  Union  soldiers  attacked  the  camp  and  captured 
Mr.  Davis  and  all  those  with  him.  Mr.  Davis  was 
carried  to  Macon. 

From  this  place  he  was  taken  to  Fortress  Monroe, 
which  is  on  the  coast  of  Virginia,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
James  River.  Here  he  was  closely  confined  and  always 
guarded  by  soldiers  placed  in  the  room  where  he  was. 

For  a  long  time,  he  had  suffered  with  a  weak  eye,  and 
now  he  almost  lost  the  use  of  it.  But  when  he  could, 
he  read.  He  took  this  opportunity  to  read  Bancroft's 
"  History  of  the  United  States  "  and  Macaulay's  "  History 
of  England."  He  also  spent  a  good  deal  of  his  time  dis- 
cussing various  subjects  with  his  physician,  Dr.  Craven. 

At  last  he  was  allowed  to  walk  about  the  fortress, 
always  closely  guarded.     He  was  glad  of  this,  for  he 


76  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

needed  the  fresh,  open  air,  but  so  many  people  came, 
through  curiosity,  to  look  at  him  that  he  was  much 
annoyed,  and  he  was  tempted  to  give  up  his  walks.  Mrs. 
Davis  was  permitted,  after  a  time,  to  come  and  live  in 
the  fort  to  minister  to  his  wants  and  be  near  him. 

He  was  very  anxious  to  have  a  trial  so  that  he  might 
explain  and  justify  his  course  of  action.  He  had  been 
accused  of  many  things  in  which  he  had  no  part.  A 
trial  was  finally  granted  him,  but  he  was  not  tried.  Mr. 
Davis  always  regretted  this  because  he  thought  that 
he  could  have  cleared  his  name  of  all  the  blame  which 
had  been  placed  upon  it.  He  was  bailed  by  the  United 
States  Court  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  in  May,  1867, 
after  about  two  years  spent  in  imprisonment.  His 
bond,  which  was  signed  by  Horace  Greeley  and  several 
other  men  from  the  North,  was  placed  at  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  There  was  great  rejoicing  through- 
out the  South  when  he  was  released. 

CHAPTER  XV 

BEAUVOIR 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Davis  was  free,  he  with  Mrs.  Davis 
and  the  small  children  went  to  his  older  children  and 
their  grandmother  in  Canada.  After  living  there  for 
about  a  year,  he  went  to  Europe  and  spent  a  year  in 
travel  and  sightseeing. 


BEAUVOIR  77 

While  he  was  in  France,  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon 
sent  him  a  message,  saying  that  if  Mr.  Davis  desired 
an  audience  with  him,  one  would  be  granted  gladly. 
Mr.  Davis  promptly  replied  that  he  did  not  desire  it. 
He  refused  the  audience  because,  during  the  war,  when 
the  Confederacy  had  needed  war  vessels,  Napoleon  had 
agreed  to  allow  them  to  be  built  in  France,  and  after 
the  vessels  were  finished,  he  had  refused  to  allow  them 
to  leave  French  ports. 

He  returned  to  America  to  become  president  of  a  life 
insurance  company  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  where  he 
lived  for  some  years. 

Mr.  Davis  wished  to  write  a  history  of  the  Confed- 
eracy and  for  this  purpose  chose  a  quiet  place  on  the 
coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  place  was  Beau- 
voir,  a  lovely  country  home  near  Biloxi,  Mississippi, 
fanned  by  the  gentle  breeze  from  the  gulf  and  soothed 
by  the  never-ending  break  and  splash  of  the  surf. 

The  house,  yet  standing,  is  set  in  the  center  of  a  great, 
brown,  sandy  yard,  facing  the  sea.  About  it  are  hun- 
dreds of  magnolia,  cedar,  and  oak  trees,  hung  with 
Spanish  moss.  It  is  a  big,  white  house  with  green 
shutters.  There  are  cool  deep  galleries  across  the  front 
and  back,  with  a  wide  hall  through  the  center.  There 
is  a  wing  on  one  side,  and  behind  this,  a  kitchen  covered 
with  climbing  rose  vines.  On  both  sides  of  the  big 
house  are  little  separate  cottages.     In  one  of  these, 


78  JEFFERSON   DAVIS 

secure  from  interruption,  Mr.  Davis  wrote  his  history, 
the  "Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  States." 

One  who  visited  Beauvoir  while  Mr.  Davis  was  yet 
living  thus  described  the  home:  "Beauvoir  house  is 
one  of  those  fine  old  houses  set  out  with  quaint  olden- 
timed  furniture,  rich  in  pictures  and  books  and  treasures 
that  have  been  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  world ;  a 
home  that  has  grown  mellow  and  beautiful  with  time, 
and  which  neither  money  nor  desire  can  obtain.  Old- 
fashioned  lounges  and  round  divans,  and  big  rocking- 
chairs,  and  old  cabinets  fill  the  wide  hall.  A  grand- 
father clock  stands  like  a  carved  oak  coffin  on  end,  and 
the  brass  face  looks  out  through  the  glass  case  upon  a 
life  with  which  it  has  nothing  more  to  do.  There  are 
pictures  on  the  tables  and  walls,  and  books  and  papers 
everywhere.  A  Turkish  curtain  as  well  as  folding  doors 
separates  the  front  parlor  from  the  back.  The  last  is 
lined  from  the  floor  almost  to  the  ceiling  with  book 
shelves,  and  the  books  overflow  into  every  room  in  the 
house.  Rare  paintings  and  portraits  cover  the  walls 
and  door  frames." 

Here  in  this  home  Mr.  Davis,  his  wife,  and  Miss 
Winnie  Davis,  his  youngest  child,  lived  happy  and  peace- 
ful lives.  They  read  a  great  deal,  entertained  their 
many  visitors  and  friends,  and  did  all  the  good  they 
could. 

Miss  Winnie  was  born  in  Richmond  during  the  war. 


BEAUVOIR  79 

For  this  reason,  she  came  to  be  called  the  "Daughter  of 
the  Confederacy."  She  was  a  great  favorite  with  her 
father.  She  read  for  him  and  even  studied  military 
history  and  army  tactics  in  order  to  be  able  better  to 
interest  and  help  him. 

Mr.  Davis  was  a  very  learned  man.  He  read  and 
studied  a  great  deal  these  latter  years  of  his  life  in  the 
quiet  and  retirement  of  Beau  voir.  On  one  of  his  visits 
to  Scotland,  he  astonished  the  natives  by  his  exact 
knowledge  of  their  history.  It  was  said  that  if  the 
works  of  Burns  and  Scott  were  destroyed,  they  could 
be  reproduced  by  Mr.  Davis. 

He  left  his  home  several  times  to  make  visits  through 
the  South.  He  was  always  received  with  respect  and 
joy  by  the  people.  On  different  occasions,  he  made 
addresses  always  full  of  wisdom  and  free  from  bitter- 
ness. 

His  health  was  poor  for  a  number  of  years.  But 
through  the  careful  nursing  of  Mrs.  Davis,  the  skill  of 
his  physician,  and  his  own  prudence,  he  lived  past  his 
eighty-first  year. 

In  the  autumn  of  1889,  business  carried  him  to  his 
Brierneld  plantation.  He  felt  so  well  when  starting 
that  he  insisted  that  it  was  unnecessary  for  any  one  to 
go  with  him.  While  at  the  plantation,  he  became  very 
ill  and  went  back  to  New  Orleans  through  bad  weather. 
Here  Mrs.  Davis  met  him  and  took  him  at  once  to  the 


80  JEFFERSON    DAVIS 

home  of  Judge  Charles  E.  Fenner  in  New  Orleans. 
Every  attention  was  given  him.  Friends  sent  flowers 
and  delicacies  until  Mrs.  Davis  was  forced  to  decline 
them. 

He  grew  worse  in  spite  of  all  that  could  be  done.  Just 
before  the  end  came,  Mrs.  Davis  carried  some  medicine 
for  him  to  take.  He  feebly  motioned  it  away,  saying 
gently,  "Pray  excuse  me."  Even  in  his  last  moments 
he  did  not  forget  the  quiet  courtesy  which  had  always 
marked  him  as  the  gentleman. 

He  died  very  quietly,  early  in  the  morning  of  the  6th 
of  December,  1889.  None  of  his  family  survived  him 
except  his  wife  and  two  daughters. 

The  entire  South  mourned  him  and  at  once  united 
to  do  him  honor.  Numerous  telegrams  came  to  the 
widow,  expressing  grief  and  sympathy.  Among  these 
was  one  sent  by  his  former  slaves.  One  old  servant 
who  was  living  in  Florida  learned  of  Mr.  Davis's  illness 
through  the  newspapers.  At  once  he  set  out  to  see  his 
old  master,  but  he  arrived  too  late  to  see  him  alive.  He 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  look  upon  his  face.  Every  one 
save  members  of  the  family  had  been  denied  entrance 
to  the  death  chamber,  but  old  Miles  Cooper  was  al- 
lowed to  enter.  When  he  was  left  alone  with  the  "  Mars 
Jeff"  of  his  youth,  his  sobs  and  heartbroken  grief  were 
most  pitiful. 

His  old  and  lifelong  friend,  General  George  Wallace 


i 


fVINjjj 


THE   JEFFERSON    DAVIS    MONUMENT    IN    RICHMOND 


Si 


82  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Jones,  was  present,  having  come  all  the  way  from 
Dubuque,  Iowa.  Many  distinguished  Southerners 
came  to  be  at  the  funeral. 

The  body  was  removed  from  the  home  of  Judge 
Fenner  and  placed  in  the  City  Hall  of  New  Orleans. 
This  was  draped  in  mourning,  decorations  of  flowers 
were  everywhere,  small  arms  were  stacked  and  cannon 
placed  about,  and  soldiers  were  on  guard.  All  spoke  of 
grief,  and  the  respect  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  people. 

Here  the  body  lay  in  state  until  December  12. 
Thousands  passed  in  silent  procession  to  look  for  the 
last  time  on  the  features  of  the  great  old  man.  Many 
colored  people  were  in  the  line.  One  of  them,  William 
Samford,  said,  "  I  loved  him  and  can  say  that  every 
colored  man  whom  he  ever  owned  loved  him.  He  was 
a  good,  kind  master." 

On  the  12th,  the  body  was  interred  with  imposing 
ceremonies  in  Metaire  cemetery,  New  Orleans.  Several 
governors  of  states  and  generals  were  present,  together 
with  many  other  distinguished  persons. 

In  May,  1893,  the  remains  were  taken  to  Richmond, 
Virginia,  and  placed  to  rest  in  Hollywood  cemetery. 
Everywhere  along  the  route  to  Richmond,  large  crowds 
gathered  to  honor  his  memory.  In  Richmond  a  great 
procession  of  citizens  and  old  soldiers  escorted  his  dust 
to  its  final  resting  place. 

Most  of  the  Southern  States  have  made  his  birthday 


BEAUVOIR  83 

a  legal  holiday,  and  some  states  have  erected  monu- 
ments to  him.  The  last  act  of  the  legislature  of  Ala- 
bama before  adjourning  in  the  summer  of  1907  was  to 
vote  money  to  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

On  June  4,  1907,  all  places  of  business  in  the  South 
were  closed  and  trains  stood  still  for  five  minutes, 
while  a  beautiful  and  stately  monument  to  him  was 
unveiled  in  Richmond.  It  was  erected  through  the 
efforts  of  the  ladies  of  the  Jefferson  Davis  Monument 
Association,  the  result  of  eighteen  years  of  earnest 
work  in  collecting  funds  for  the  purpose.  It  was 
unveiled  by  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Davis,  Mrs.  Hayes  of 
Colorado  Springs,  Colorado.  She  was  assisted  by  her 
two  young  sons,  the  grandsons  of  Jefferson  Dav's.  The 
scene  was  a  most  impressive  one.  The  ceremonies  were 
attended  by  thousands  of  the  citizens  of  the  South  and 
the  old  Confederate  soldiers,  who  were  at  the  time  gath- 
ered in  Richmond  for  their  annual  reunion. 


ROBERT    E.    LEE 


85 


ROBERT   E.   LEE 
86 


ROBERT   E.    LEE 
CHAPTER  I 

THE   LEE   FAMILY 

In  the  eastern  part  of  England  is  the  county  of 
Essex.  Here,  on  its  grassy  slopes  and  among  its  great 
oaks,  lived  the  Lees.  The  first  of  the  name  to  live  in 
Essex  was  Launcelo.t  Lee.  His  home  had  been  Loudon 
in  France.  But  when  William  the  Norman  laid  claim 
to  the  throne  of  England  and  prepared  to  invade  and 
conquer  the  island,  Launcelot  left  his  home  and  fol- 
lowed the  great  duke. 

At  the  battle  of  Hastings  in  1066,  all  day  long  with 
the  other  Normans,  he  had  charged  time  and  again  up 
the  hill  on  which  the  English  had  massed  themselves. 
With  their  heavy  battle-axes  and  broad  two-edged 
swords,  the  English  hewed  and  thrust  stoutly  to  keep 
the  Normans  from  their  hearths  and  homes.  But  when 
night  came,  the  English  army  was  broken  and  driven 
from  the  field.  William  had  become  "the  Conqueror," 
and  he  was  soon  made  king  of  England.  He  took 
the  lands  and  castles  of  the  English  and  gave  them  to 

87 


88  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

his  bold  Normans.  To  Launcelot  Lee  was  given  an 
estate  in  Essex.  On  it  he  and  his  sons  and  his  sons' 
sons  lived  for  centuries.  They  were  strong  and  brave 
in  battle  and  loved  to  fight  for  the  king  in  his  wars. 

The  family  was  a  most  worthy  one,  and  some  of  its 
members  were  powerful.  When  Richard  the  Lion- 
Hearted  went  on  a  crusade  to  take  the  Holy  Land  from 
the  Turks,  Lionel  Lee  raised  a  company  and  went  with 
him.  At  the  siege  of  Acre,  Lionel  Lee  fought  with  such 
energy  and  courage  that  Richard  made  him  an  earl. 
Another  Lee  who  was  great  and  honored  in  England 
was  named  Richard.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  with 
the  Earl  of  Surrey,  he  marched  across  the  border  to 
help  fight  the  Scots.  And  thus  there  was  nearly 
always  a  Lee  who  was  doing  something  to  make  the 
name  a  known  and  honored  one. 

In  1607,  England  sent  some  of  its  people  to  make 
settlements  in  Virginia.  Many  wonderful  stories  were 
told  of  what  a  fine  country  Virginia  was.  People  all 
over  England  talked  of  the  riches  to  be  won  there,  and 
a  great  many  of  them  left  their  homes  and  came  to 
live  in  the  new  country. 

One  of  the  Lees  of  that  time  was  another  Richard. 
As  he  wished  to  better  his  fortune,  he  made  up  his  mind 
that  he  too  would  move  to  Virginia.  And  so  with  some 
of  his  friends  and  servants  he  came  to  the  New  World. 
Land  was  to  be  had  almost  free  in  Virginia.     Richard 


THE   LEE    FAMILY  89 

Lee  soon  owned  large  tracts  of  it.  He  at  once  began 
building  on  these  lands  and  improving  them,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  he  became  rich.  He  was  a  stout,  well- 
built  man,  with  "sound  sense  and  a  kind  heart,"  and 
it  is  said  Robert  E.  Lee  was  much  like  him.  This 
Richard  Lee  was  the  great-great-grandfather  of  Robert 
E.  Lee. 

The  family  became  powerful  in  America  as  it  had 
become  powerful  in  England.  Among  the  many  Lees 
you  will  hear  of,  there  was  the  Lee  who  moved  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  in  the  American  Con- 
gress, and  no  less  than  two  Lees  signed  their  names  to 
that  great  paper. 

In  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution  there  was  a 
Lee  whose  name  was  Henry.  He  was  the  bold,  dashing 
leader  of  a  legion  of  cavalry.  Because  he  and  his  men 
could  move  so  quietly  and  rapidly  from  place  to  place, 
he  was  called  "Light  Horse  Harry."  In  rank  he  was 
a  colonel,  and  he  did  much  in  keeping  the  British  in 
check.  Congress  gave  him  a  fine  gold  medal  for  taking 
a  fort  called  Paulus  Hook.  He  was  greatly  loved  by 
General  Nathanael  Greene,  who,  in  a  letter  to  him,  said, 
"I  believe  few  officers,  in  Europe  or  America,  are  held 
in  so  high  esteem  as  yourself.  ...  I  have  the  highest 
opinion  of  you  as  an  officer,  and  you  know  I  love  you  as 
a  friend." 

After  the  Revolution  ended,  Colonel  Henry  Lee  was 


9° 


ROBERT   E.   LEE 


sent  to  the  United  States  Congress.  When  Washington 
died,  Colonel  Lee  made  a  great  speech,  in  which  he 
said  that  Washington  was  "First  in  war,  first  in  peace, 
and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

But  better  than  all  his  greatness  and  honor,  Colonel 


'i,.,,.    '>, 


*  K!%:^ 


STRATFORD    HOUSE 


Lee  loved  his  home  which  was  called  Stratford  House. 
It  was  first  built  by  that  Richard  Lee,  who  came  to  Vir- 
ginia. Later,  in  the  time  of  Thomas  Lee,  the  house  was 
burned.  Then  people  almost  everywhere  gave  money 
to  Thomas  Lee  to  help  rebuild  his  home.  The  governor 
of  Virginia  and  even  Queen  Anne  herself  helped.  When 
all  was  ready,  work  was  begun  and  a  grand  mansion  was 


THE   LEE   FAMILY  gi 

built.  In  shape  it  was  like  the  letter  H,  and  on  top 
were  little  summer  houses  where  bands  of  music  often 
played.  This  house  was  meant  to  be  a  home  for  the 
Lees  for  ages. 

It  was  set  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Potomac.  Far  lip 
and  down  the  river,  the  boats  could  be  seen  as  they  came 
and  went.  The  grounds  were  covered  with  fresh  green 
grass,  and  large  old  oaks,  cedars,  and  maples  grew  about 
the  place.  This  home  was  always  a  gay  and  happy  one. 
Some  one  in  each  generation  was  famous,  and  this 
caused  the  best  company  to  visit  Stratford  House. 
When  young  people  came,  there  was  always  fun  and 
music,  and  every  one  was  happy.  Such  was  the  home 
that  Light  Horse  Harry,  the  father  of  Robert  E.  Lee, 
loved  so  well. 

He  was  a  farmer  and  loved  his  farm.  He  liked  to 
look  after  his  horses  and  stock ;  he  liked  to  ride  over 
his  broad  plantation  and  see  the  beautiful  green  crops 
growing;  he  liked  to  hunt  and  hear  his  hounds  in  full 
cry  as  they  followed  the  fox  through  the  valleys  and 
over  the  hills.  He  was  always  glad  to  have  company 
and  the  best  of  everything  at  Stratford  House  was  free 
to  all  visitors.  In  short  he  was  what  has  always  been 
called  a  "Virginia  gentleman."  His  own  life  would 
have  fixed  the  name  of  Lee  in  history  forever,  but 
his  son,  Robert  Edward,  added  to  it  a  glory  that  can 
never  die. 


92  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

CHAPTER   II 

BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD 


.'^  " 


Robert  Edward  Lee,  "Light  Horse  Harry's1 
youngest  son,  was  born  at  Stratford  House  on  the  19th 
of  January,  1807.  Of  him  as  a  very  small  boy  we  know 
almost  nothing,  but  doubtless  he  cried  when  he  felt 
like  it,  was  fond  of  pies  and  cakes,  and  lost  his  father's 
pocket  knives  as  most  little  boys  do. 

At  any  rate  when  Robert  was  about  four  years  old, 
Colonel  Lee  moved  his  family  away  from  Stratford 
House.  They  were  all  sad  to  leave  the  dear  old  home, 
but  they  were  going  to  Alexandria  where  there  were 
good  schools.  Through  misfortune,  Colonel  Lee  had 
lost  most  of  the  family  wealth  and  now  he  was  eager 
to  give  his  children  the  help  of  all  the  education  he 
could.  So  Robert  with  the  other  children  was  soon  sent 
to  school  at  Alexandria  Academy.  It  is  said  that  he 
learned  fast  and  gave  his  teachers  no  trouble. 

With  his  mother  and  some  of  the  other  children, 
Robert  often  went  to  spend  a  few  days  at  Stratford 
House.  They  also  sometimes  visited  his  mother's 
old  home,  "Shirley."  This  was  a  grand  house  on  a 
large  plantation,  belonging  to  his  grandfather  Carter. 

These  visits  were  always  rilled  with  pleasure.  In  the 
daytime,  with  gun  and  dogs,  he  would  hunt  rabbits, 


BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD  93 

squirrels,  and  deer.  Sometimes  he  would  go  to  the 
swamp  to  shoot  ducks  or  wild  geese.  Then  there  were 
rowing  and  fishing  and  horseback  riding.  The  last  he 
probably  liked  best  of  all.  At  night  he  often  went  with 
others  to  hunt  the  fox.  Sometimes  he  rode,  but  at 
other  times  he  walked.  A  fox  is  not  easily  and  quickly 
caught.  The  hounds  often  fail  to  catch  him  after  run- 
ning him  a  night  and  a  day.  We  are  told  that  Robert 
would  follow  the  hounds  on  foot  all  day.  This  was 
great  sport  and  fine  exercise  for  him,  and  he  became 
robust  and  strong.  When  he  was  a  man,  he  liked  to 
tell  of  these  sports  of  his  youth,  because  they  had 
done  so  much  in  making  him  the  hardy,  enduring  sol- 
dier that  he  was.  In  this  way  and  in  going  to  school, 
most  of  his  early  boyhood  was  passed. 

When  Robert  was  about  six  years  old,  something 
happened  that  grieved  him  very  much.  His  father's 
health  became  so  bad  that  he  had  to  leave  Robert  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  and  go  away  for  a  change.  A 
short  time  before  this,  Colonel  Lee  had  been  at  the 
house  of  a  friend  in  Baltimore.  This  friend  was  an 
editor,  who  had  printed  an  article  in  his  paper  that 
some  of  the  people  did  not  like.  For  this  reason  a 
great  many  men  gathered  at  his  home  to  punish  him. 
A  quarrel  resulted,  and  Colonel  Lee  was  severely  hurt. 
He  was  ill  a  long  time,  and  it  seemed  that  he  could  not 
get  any  better.     At  last  his  doctor  told  him  he  must  go 


94 


ROBERT  E.   LEE 


away  where  it  was  less  cold,  and  so  he  went  to  the 
warm,  sunny  West  Indies.  He  wrote  kind,  good  letters 
home.  In  one  of  these  he  wished  to  know  if  his  sons 
rode  and  shot  well,  and  he  said  that  a  Virginian's  sons 
should  be  taught  to  ride,  to  shoot,  and  to  tell  the  truth. 

But  the  brave  old  Light  Horse  Harry  did  not  get  any 
better.  He  grew  worse  and  after  staying  in  these  islands 
for  five  years,  he  decided  that  he  could  not  get  well  and 
that  he  would  go  back  home.  He  went  on  board  a  ship 
and  started,  but  he  had  grown  so  ill  by  the  time  the 
vessel  was  near  Cumberland  Island,  off  the  coast  of 
Georgia,  that  he  was  put  ashore.  He  went  to  "Dun- 
geness,"  the  home  of  his  old  friend,  General  Greene. 
Here,  although  he  was  well  cared  for,  he  died  two 
months  after  he  landed.  His  body  was  buried  amid 
the  beautiful  trees  and  flowers  of  Cumberland  Island, 
and  has  never  been  removed  to  Virginia. 

At  the  time  Colonel  Henry  Lee  died,  Robert  was  about 
eleven  years  old.  He  was  now  left  head  of  the  family, 
for  the  older  brothers  and  sisters  were  all  away.  In  the 
meantime,  his  mother's  health  had  failed  and  she  could 
not  even  walk.  But  she  was  gentle  and  tender  and  she 
loved  Robert  very  much.  His  father  had  once  written 
home,  "Robert  was  always  good."  This  proved  true 
now,  for,  to  relieve  his  mother,  he  took  charge  of  the 
house  and  the  outdoor  work  as  well.  He  bought  the 
home  supplies  and  saw  that  the  horses  were  cared  for. 


BIRTH   AND    BOYHOOD  95 

Besides  his  other  work  and  his  school  duties,  he  was 
the  nurse  for  his  mother.  He  watched  over  her  con- 
stantly. Each  day  as  soon  as  school  was  out,  the  other 
boys  might  play,  but  Robert  would  leave  them  and 
hurry  home  to  his  mother.  How  strong  and  cheerful 
he  was  !  And  how  glad  she  was  to  see  him!  Then 
he  would  hitch  the  carriage  and  take  her  out  for  a  ride 
in  the  fresh  air.  As  they  rode,  he  would  try  in  every 
way  he  could  to  make  her  enjoy  herself.  He  would 
tell  her  stories  and  try  to  make  her  laugh  and  forget  that 
she  was  ill.  He  would  tell  her  the  ride  would  do  her  no 
good  unless  she  were  cheerful.  Sometimes  the  wind 
blew  cold  and  then  it  was  not  comfortable  in  the  car- 
riage, for  it  was  an  old  one.  So  he  would  pack  paper 
in  the  cracks  and  thus  keep  out  the  cold. 

When  not  in  school,  he  stayed  with  her  nearly  all  the 
time.  If  he  left  her  room,  even  for  a  moment,  she 
scarcely  took  her  eyes  from  the  door  till  he  came  back. 
He  mixed  and  gave  all  her  medicines,  and  was  so  good 
to  her  that  she  once  said,  "How  can  I  spare  Robert ! 
he  is  both  a  son  and  a  daughter  to  me." 

The  old  home  in  Alexandria  where  his  mother  lived 
was  always  very  dear  to  him.  Later  in  life  when  he  had 
become  great  and  famous,  a  friend  once  saw  him  look- 
ing over  into  the  old  garden.  "I  am  looking  to  see  if 
the  old  snowball  trees  are  still  here,"  he  said.  "I  should 
be  very  sorry  to  miss  them." 


96  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

CHAPTER  III 

THE   CADET 

At  last  the  time  came  for  Robert  to  decide  what  he 
was  going  to  do  in  life.  A  great  many  of  the  Lees  had 
been  soldiers,  and  we  have  already  seen  what  a  good  one 
his  own  father  had  been.  Robert  therefore  made  up 
his  mind  that  he  too  would  be  a  soldier,  and  would  go 
to  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point. 

But  now  that  he  had  made  his  plans,  he  found  that 
he  did  not  know  enough  mathematics  to  enter  West 
Point.  So  he  went  to  school  to  a  Mr.  Benjamin  Hallo- 
well,  who  was  an  excellent  teacher  and  who  soon  taught 
Robert  the  mathematics  he  needed.  Mr.  Hallowell  said 
of  Robert  that  he  was  always  ready  with  his  lessons  and 
that  he  never  failed  in  a  single  recitation.  He  said  that 
Robert  liked  to  put  a  finish  and  neatness  on  his  work  as 
he  went.  In  his  study  of  mathematics,  Robert  had  to 
draw  diagrams  on  a  slate.  He  drew  them  almost  as 
neat  and  exact  as  those  in  the  book,  lettering  and  all. 

Robert  kept  at  his  work  and  was  soon  ready  for  West 
Point,  which  he  entered  in  1825,  when  he  was  about 
eighteen  years  old.  He  gave  close  and  careful  attention 
to  his  lessons.  His  gun  and  brasses  were  always  bright 
and  his  uniform  neat  and  clean.  He  neglected  none  of 
his  duties,  and  he  did  not  have  a  single  demerit  against 


THE   CADET  97 

him  during  the  entire  four  years'  course.  As  the  rules 
of  the  Academy  are  very  strict,  it  is  rare  for  any  cadet 
to  go  through  without  a  demerit.  He  neither  smoked, 
drank,  nor  swore,  but  he  was  gay  and  full  of  fun.  It 
was  said  that  "he  was  a  perfect  gentleman." 

Every  summer  when  the  cadets  were  dismissed  from 
the  Academy  for  vacation,  Robert  would  at  once  go 
home  to  his  mother.  He  was  growing  large  and  strong, 
and  he  was  tall  and  very  straight.  His  mother  was 
always  glad  to  see  him,  and  she  was  very  proud  of  her 
handsome  son.  He  would  stay  with  her  and  care  for 
her  until  time  came  to  go  back  to  West  Point.  Then 
he  was  soon  busy  at  his  studies  again. 

In  1829  when  he  was  twenty- two  years  of  age,  he 
graduated.  He  was  second  in  his  class,  and  in  rank  had 
risen  to  be  adjutant  of  the  battalion. 

Now  that  he  had  completed  his  course,  he  again  went 
home.  His  mother  had  grown  very  ill  and  weak.  He 
stayed  near  her  all  the  time.  He  would  not  leave  her 
to  be  cared  for  by  any  one  else.  All  that  he  could,  he 
did  for  her,  but  his  care  could  not  save  her  life.  He  was 
at  her  side  to  the  last.  She  left  him  about  two  months 
after  he  reached  home  from  West  Point. 

Soon  afterwards,  Uncle  Nat,  the  old  family  coachman, 
became  very  ill.  Robert  at  once  took  the  aged  negro 
and  carried  him  to  the  South.  He  nursed  the  faithful 
slave  with  great  care  and  did  all  he  could  to  get  him  well 

TWO  GREAT  SOUTHERNERS 7 


98  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

again.  But  it  was  all  in  vain,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
good  old  Uncle  Nat  was  buried  and  Robert  went  back 
home.  Robert  stayed  at  home  for  a  time  to  rest  and 
to  settle  up  his  mother's  business  affairs. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   ENGINEER 

During  the  year  in  which  he  graduated,  Robert 
entered  the  United  States  Corps  of  Engineers.  It  is  a 
sort  of  reward  to  be  a  member  of  this  Corps,  because  it 
is  made  up  of  the  first-honor  men  of  each  class  that 
graduates  from  West  Point.  Their  lives,  however, 
are  not  all  play,  but  for  the  most  part,  the  young  engi- 
neers are  kept  quite  busy.  In  times  of  peace,  it  is  their 
duty  to  care  for  the  forts  built  as  coast  or  inland  defenses 
or  to  improve  them  or  even  to  erect  new  ones.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Corps  are  sometimes  sent  to  survey  the 
boundary  lines  between  states.  At  other  times  they 
superintend  the  work  of  clearing  the  rocks,  logs,  and 
other  debris  from  the  large  rivers  so  that  vessels  may 
pass  up  and  down  them. 

When  Robert  became  a  member  of  the  Corps,  he  was 
made  a  brevet  lieutenant.  He  was  first  sent  to  the  coast 
of  Virginia,  where  he  was  busied  in  building  and  repair- 
ing Fortress  Monroe.     He  did  not  dream  that  it  would 


THE   ENGINEER 


99 


be  his  task  in  future  years  to  try  to  tear  down  his  work 
here  in  a  great  Civil  War. 

In  June,  1831,  Lieutenant  Lee  married  Mary  Custis. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  George  Washington  Parke 
Custis,  who  was  the  adopted  son  of  General  George 
Washington.     The   home   of   Mr.    Custis   was   called 


ARLINGTON 


Arlington.  It  was  a  grand  place  on  the  Virginia  bank 
of  the  Potomac,  not  far  from  Washington  City.  Two 
years  after  his  marriage,  Lieutenant  Lee  was  put  on 
duty  at  Washington.  He  was  glad  of  this,  for  now  he 
could  be  near  his  wife  at  Arlington.  In  1835,  he  ran 
the  boundary  line  that  separates  Ohio  and  Michigan. 
The  next  year  he  was  made  a  first  lieutenant. 


ioo  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

In  1837,  he  did  a  really  wonderful  thing.  At  St. 
Louis,  in  Missouri,  the  current  of  the  Mississippi  River 
is  wide  and  strong.  During  the  year  it  had  broken  out 
of  its  bed  and  was  spreading  its  waters  over  the  coun- 
try, doing  a  great  deal  of  damage  to  crops  and  homes. 

The  people  of  St.  Louis  set  aside  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  pay  for  getting  the  river  turned  back  into  its  old  bed. 
But  it  was  not  enough,  and  besides,  no  one  had  been 
found  that  could  do  the  work.  So  they  asked  the  United 
States  government  to  help  them.  General  Winfield 
Scott,  who  was  the  commander  in  chief  of  the  American 
army,  sent  Lieutenant  Lee  to  control  the  mad  waters  of 
the  great  river.  General  Scott  wrote  to  the  St.  Louis 
people  and  said,  "He  is  young,  but  if  the  work  can  be 
done,  he  can  do  it."  So  Lieutenant  Lee  went  to  St. 
Louis.  He  began  to  examine  the  river,  its  banks,  and 
the  country  round  about.  As  he  wished  to  perform  his 
task  well,  he  would  not  begin  in  a  hurry  before  he  knew 
what  would  be  the  best  way.  He  was  spending  some 
of  his  time  in  finding  out  how  the  river  could  be  turned 
and  in  making  his  plans. 

In  the  meantime  the  river  was  spreading  its  waters 
wider  and  wider,  and  certain  ruin  seemed  to  be  at  hand 
for  the  city  and  country  about.  Naturally  the  people 
were  eager  for  the  work  to  begin  at  once.  They  com- 
plained and  tried  to  hurry  Lieutenant  Lee,  but  they 
could  not,  for  his  plans  were  not  ready.     Then  they  told 


THE   ENGINEER  101 

him  they  would  withdraw  the  money  they  had  set  apart 
for  the  work.  They  did  not  know  what  a  great,  strong 
dike  he  was  getting  ready  to  build.  Lee  did  not  com- 
plain at  their  threat,  but  simply  said,  "They  can  do 
as  they  like  with  their  own  money,  but  I  was  sent  here 
to  do  certain  work  and  I  shall  do  it."  And  he  kept 
right  on  as  he  had  begun. 

Some  of  the  people  at  last  became  very  angry  with 
him  and  wanted  to  drive  him  away.  It  is  said  they  even 
placed  cannon  to  fire  on  Lee  and  his  men.  But  he 
calmly  kept  on  with  his  own  plans  until  he  had  begun 
and  finished  the  dikes  that  forced  the  river  back  into 
its  old  bed.  These  dikes  are  still  there  in  use,  showing 
how  well  the  young  engineer  performed  his  task. 

Then,  for  a  time,  he  was  at  work  on  the  coast  defenses 
of  New  York  Bay.  He  was  stationed  at  Fort  Hamilton, 
not  far  from  New  York  City.  While  here,  Lee  was  one 
day  on  a  boat  that  was  crossing  the  harbor.  He  saw 
a  small  dog  struggling  in  the  water.  She  was  about  to 
be  drowned  by  the  waves  from  the  boat  and  was  whin- 
ing piteously.  Lee's  heart  was  too  tender  to  let  her 
drown,  so  he  got  her  out  of  the  water  and  carried  her 
home  with  him.  His  children  were  delighted  to  have  so 
nice  a  dog.  They  gladly  welcomed  her  and  soon  made 
her  a  great  pet.  They  named  her  Dart.  She  and  the 
cat  ate  from  the  same  plate,  but  not  at  the  same  time, 
for  Dart  had  to  wait  till  the  cat  finished.     If  Dart  dared 


102  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

to  take  a  bite  while  the  cat  was  eating,  her  face  was 
likely  to  feel  the  scratch  of  sharp  claws.  But  Dart 
was  loved  and  happy,  and  stayed  with  the  family  the 
rest  of  her  life. 

Lee's  work  and  duty  were  faithfully  performed,  and 
his  superiors  knew  how  worthy  he  was.  In  1838,  he 
was  made  a  captain.  Then  six  years  later,  in  1844,  he 
was  put  on  the  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Academy  at 
West  Point.  It  is  the  duty  of  this  Board  to  visit  the 
Academy  and  to  examine  the  teaching  and  training 
there  and  also  to  see  that  these  things  are  done  as  they 
should  be.  The  next  year  he  was  made  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Engineers  of  the  United  States.  And  thus 
you  see  he  was  rising  steadily  to  higher  rank  and  to  posi- 
tions of  greater  trust  and  power. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   CAPTAIN   OF   ENGINEERS 

When  the  Mexican  War  began,  Captain  Lee  was  sent 
as  chief  engineer  with  the  army  of  General  Wool,  which 
was  to  enter  Mexico  from  the  north.  One  day  news 
was  brought  to  General  Wool  that  Santa  Anna  with  an 
army  had  crossed  a  mountain  and  had  pitched  camp  not 
more  than  twenty  miles  away.  It  was  thought  that 
Santa  Anna  was  going  to  attack  Wool's  army. 


THE   CAPTAIN   OF  ENGINEERS  103 

Captain  Lee  said  he  would  go  and  find  out  if  the 
report  were  true  and  try  to  learn  where  Santa  Anna 
really  was.  So  he  set  out.  General  Wool  sent  some 
men  on  horses  to  meet  him  at  a  certain  place  and  go 
with  him.  But  when  Captain  Lee  reached  the  place  of 
meeting,  the  guard  of  cavalry  had  not  come  up.  As 
time  was  valuable,  Lee  made  up  his  mind  not  to  wait 
for  his  escort.  With  a  single  Mexican  for  guide,  Cap- 
tain Lee  went  on.  The  Mexican  did  not  like  to  show 
Lee  the  way,  but  Lee  drew  his  pistol,  and  the  Mexican 
was  afraid  to  lead  him  in  a  wrong  direction. 

So  on  they  went.  After  a  long  ride,  they  came  into  a 
road.  Here  they  saw  a  great  many  mule  and  wagon 
tracks,  leading  toward  where  it  was  said  Santa  Anna 
was  encamped.  Lee  followed  these  tracks  for  miles. 
At  last  night  began  to  come  on.  Then  in  the  dusk  and 
distance,  he  saw  what  looked  like  camp  fires  and  tents. 
But  he  was  not  sure  they  were  fires  and  tents.  In  order 
to  be  certain,  he  went  on  up,  nearer  and  nearer.  Fi- 
nally, when  he  was  very  close,  he  saw  that  the  tents  were 
not  tents  at  all,  but  a  large  drove  of  sheep  feeding  on  the 
mountain  side.  The  fires  were  not  the  camp  fires  of 
Santa  Anna,  but  those  of  some  Mexicans  who  had  in 
charge  great  numbers  of  wagons,  mules,  cattle,  and 
sheep.  It  was  amusing  to  Lee  that  he  had  come  so  near 
to  being  mistaken. 

He  now  went  on  up  to  the  Mexicans  and  learned  from 


104  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

them  that  Santa  Anna  had  not  crossed  the  mountains. 
Captain  Lee  rode  back  to  General  Wool  and  told  him 
what  he  had  found  out.  He  had  now  already  ridden 
more  than  forty  miles,  but  as  General  Wool  was  still 
eager  to  know  where  the  Mexican  army  was,  Lee  again 
set  out  to  find  it.  This  time  he  rode  clear  over  the 
mountains,  and  having  found  out  exactly  where  the 
army  was,  he  carried  the  information  back  to  his 
commander. 

Later  the  army  of  General  Wool  was  joined  to  that  of 
General  Taylor.  When  a  part  of  Taylor's  soldiers  were 
sent  to  General  Scott,  Lee  was  among  them,  and  thus  he 
came  under  the  command  of  Scott. 

As  a  captain  of  engineers,  Lee's  duties  were  quite 
difficult  and  dangerous.  He  had  to  examine  carefully 
the  ground  on  which  the  battles  were  to  be  fought,  and 
he  had  to  choose  positions  where  the  big  guns  could  be 
placed  to  do  the  enemy  the  greatest  damage.  It  was 
his  duty  to  obtain  all  the  information  he  could  that  would 
be  useful  for  the  guidance  of  the  commander  in  advanc- 
ing or  retreating,  and  also  to  make  maps  of  the  country 
through  which  the  army  might  pass.  He  planned  and 
overlooked  the  building  of  bridges  to  be  used  by  the 
troops.  And  then  he  must  lead  the  way  for  the  army  on 
the  routes  previously  searched  out  and  prepared.  This 
is  very  important  work  when  an  army  is  on  the  march. 
Lee  was  thought  by  all  to  be  very  superior  at  it. 


THE   CAPTAIN  OF  ENGINEERS  105 

His  first  task  after  he  joined  General  Scott's  army,  was 
to  help  take  Vera  Cruz.  This  Mexican  city  was  on  the 
seacoast,  and  it  had  high,  thick  walls  around  it.  Cap- 
tain Lee's  work  here  was  to  place  the  cannon  and  build 
the  forts.  In  order  to  place  the  big  guns  best,  he  had 
to  hunt  for  high  places  from  which  a  clear  and  open 
shot  at  the  walls  and  city  could  be  had. 

Once,  while  looking  for  a  good  place  in  which  to 
station  a  gun,  he  went  too  far  from  his  own  men.  Sud- 
denly he  found  himself  right  in  among  the  Mexican  sol- 
diers. He  hardly  knew  what  to  do.  But  as  none  of 
them  had  yet  seen  him,  he  quickly  looked  about  for 
some  hiding  place.  He  saw  a  large  fallen  tree  near 
by,  and  quietly  hid  himself  behind  it  and  lay  very  still. 

There  was  a  spring  not  far  away  to  which  the  Mexi- 
cans came  to  get  water.  While  Lee  was  lying  behind  the 
tree,  the  Mexicans  were  passing  to  and  from  the  spring. 
Some  of  them  stopped  and  even  sat  on  the  log  to  rest 
and  talk.  At  last  they  left,  but  he  did  not  stir.  He 
waited  till  it  was  dark.  Then  he  came  from  behind  the 
tree  and  went  back  to  his  friends  as  quietly  and  as 
quickly  as  he  could. 

He  now  worked  day  and  night  at  planting  the  guns 
and  building  the  forts.  When  all  was  ready,  the  fight- 
ing began.  Captain  Lee  himself  took  part  in  it.  One 
of  his  brothers,  Lieutenant  Sydney  Smith  Lee,  served 
one  of  the  big  guns.     Robert  watched  after  his  brother 


106  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

always.  He  feared  Sydney  would  be  killed.  Robert 
wrote  home  that  his  eyes  turned  to  his  brother,  no  mat- 
ter where  he  himself  had  to  be.  He  said  he  remained 
with  Sydney  when  his  own  duties  did  not  require  him 
elsewhere.  Captain  Lee  said  his  brother's  good  na- 
ture did  not  forsake  him  in  the  battle,  for  he  could  see 
his  white  teeth  every  time  the  smoke  cleared.  This 
shows  something  of  how  the  Lees  loved  and  admired 
each  other.  Neither  of  them  was  hurt  in  the  righting 
around  Vera  Cruz. 

Captain  Lee  had  placed  the  guns  where  they  did  a 
great  deal  of  harm  to  the  city  and  brought  terror  and 
death  to  the  people.  He  knew  he  was  doing  his  duty, 
yet  his  tender  heart  caused  him  to  surfer  much.  In  a 
letter  that  he  wrote,  he  said  that  the  shells  from  the 
American  guns  were  very  beautiful  while  flying  through 
the  air,  but  that  they  were  very  destructive  when  they 
fell.  "It  was  awful,"  he  said,  "my  heart  bled  for  the 
inhabitants  —  and  it  was  terrible  to  think  of  the 
women  and  children."  The  fighting  was  over  in  about 
a  week,  and  Vera  Cruz  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Americans. 

General  Scott's  plan  now  was  to  march  his  army  to  the 
city  of  Mexico,  because  it  was  thought  if  the  capital 
could  be  taken,  the  country  would  be  conquered.  When 
the  army  had  marched  about  fifteen  miles,  they  neared  a 
difficult  pass  in  the  mountains,  called  Cerro  Gordo.     As 


THE"  CAPTAIN   OF   ENGINEERS  107 

Santa  Anna  thought  at  this  pass  would  be  a  good  place 
to  check  the  advance  of  the  Americans,  he  had  taken  his 
position  in  it.  His  army  was  protected  by  deep  ravines 
and  by  steep,  high  cliffs.  On  a  rocky  height  far  above 
his  army,  he  had  placed  cannons  to  fire  down  on  the 
Americans  as  they  came  up  the  one  open  way.  It 
seemed  almost  impossible  to  get  at  Santa  Anna's  army 
to  make  an  attack,  and  if  this  could  be  done,  the  Ameri- 
can advance  would  be  checked  as  the  Mexican  com- 
mander had  planned.  On  one  side  the  cliffs  were  so 
steep  and  dangerous  that  Santa  Anna  said  he  thought 
not  even  a  goat  could  climb  them.  He  felt  perfectly 
safe  and  was  sure  that  General  Scott  could  go  no  farther. 
But  as  Santa  Anna  was  so  sure  that  this  steep  side 
could  not  be  climbed,  he  did  not  place  any  soldiers  to 
guard  it.  So  when  Lee  and  some  other  engineers  were 
sent  to  find  a  route  by  which  the  Mexican  army  could 
be  attacked,  they  decided  that  this  would  be  the  best 
place.  Lee  set  some  men  to  work,  and  they  made  a 
road  to  it  during  the  night.  The  next  day  there  sud- 
denly appeared,  right  before  the  Mexicans,  a  large  part 
of  the  American  army,  at  the  very  place  where  Santa 
Anna  least  expected  them.  The  fighting  began,  but  it 
did  not  last  long,  for  Lee  had  planned  everything  so 
well  that  it  was  easy  to  drive  the  Mexicans  from  the 
pass.  This  victory  was  won  April  18,  1847.  Soon 
after  it,  General  Scott  wrote  to  the  War  Department 


CAPTAIN   LEE    AND   THE   DRUMMER   BOY 


I  OS 


THE   CAPTAIN   OF   ENGINEERS 


109 


that  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  make  "special  mention  of 
R.  E.  Lee,  engineer."  For  his  conduct  in  the  battle, 
Lee  was  made  a  brevet  major. 

While  this  battle  was  being  fought,  Captain  Lee 
heard  a  little  girl  crying.  He  went  to  see  about  it  and 
found  her  standing  near  the  side  of  a  hut.  On  the 
ground  lay  a  little  Mexican  drummer  boy,  who  had  been 
wounded  in  his  arm.  He  had  fallen,  and  on  him  lay  a 
big  Mexican  soldier,  who  had  been  shot.  The  boy 
could  not  get  up,  so  Lee  had  the  big  soldier  thrown  off 
and  the  boy  put  in  a  safe  place.  The  little  dark-skinned, 
black-eyed,  black-haired  sister  did  her  best  to  thank 
Lee  for  saving  her  brother. 

Captain  Lee  loved  children,  and  amid  all  his  march- 
ing, planning,  and  fighting,  he  could  not  forget  his  own 
children,  but  he  found  time  to  write  them  long  letters. 
After  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,  he  wrote  his  son  Cus- 
tis,  "I  thought  of  you,  my  dear  Custis,  on  the  18th  in 
the  battle  and  wondered  when  the  musket  balls  and 
grape  were  whistling  over  my  head  in  a  perfect  shower 
where  I  could  put  you,  if  with  me,  to  be  safe.  I  was 
truly  thankful  that  you  were  at  school,  I  hope  learning 
to  be  wise  and  good.  You  have  no  idea  what  a  horrible 
sight  a  battlefield  is." 

The  Christmas  before  this,  as  Captain  Lee  could  not 
go  home,  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  his  children.  "I 
hope,"  he  wrote,  "that  good  Santa  Claus  will  fill  my 


no  ROBERT  E.    LEE 

Rob's  stocking  to-night ;  that  Mildred's,  Agnes's,  and 
Anna's  may  break  down  with  good  things.  I  do  not 
know  what  he  may  have  for  you,  Custis  and  Mary,  but 
if  he  leaves  you  one  half  of  what  I  wish,  you  will  want 
for  nothing."  Some  of  the  officers  had  their  wives  and 
children  along  with  them  in  Mexico.  Since  he  could 
not  be  with  his  own,  Captain  Lee  played  Santa  Claus 
for  these  officers'  children,  and  made  them  very  happy. 
After  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,  General  Scott's  army 
marched  on  for  days  and  days,  over  hills  and  moun- 
tains, toward  Mexico.  This  city  was  protected  by 
strong  forts  and  castles  round  about  it,  which  would 
have  to  be  stormed  before  it  could  be  taken.  The  Amer- 
ican army  was  approaching  the  city  by  a  road  leading 
to  it  from  the  south.  On  this  road,  about  six  miles 
from  the  capital,  was  a  Mexican  farm  called  the  Haci- 
enda of  San  Antonio.  Here  the  Mexicans  had  placed  a 
large  force  of  soldiers  and  had  planted  some  cannons  in 
commanding  positions.  On  the  right  of  the  road  was 
Lake  Chalko,  and  on  the  left  was  what  was  called  the 
Pedrigal.  This  Pedrigal  had  once  in  ages  long  past 
been  a  boiling  sea  of  molten  lava  from  a  volcano. 
Now,  as  it  by  degrees  cooled,  it  split  and  cracked  and 
broke  into  all  sorts  of  rough,  uneven,  jagged  ridges  and 
deep  chasms.  It  was  a  very  dangerous  place  and  could 
hardly  be  crossed  at  all.  So  you  see  that  it  seemed  for 
a  second  time  that  the  Americans  were  checked. 


THE   CAPTAIN  OF   ENGINEERS  III 

When  General  Scott's  army  came  up,  the  Mexican 
force  at  the  farm  was  too  large  to  be  driven  away,  and 
the  only  chance  for  the  Americans  to  proceed  seemed 
to  be  in  rinding  a  way  around.  Now,  far  over  beyond 
the  Pedrigal  was  another  road  leading  from  the  south- 
west to  the  city.  General  Scott  sent  Lee  and  other 
engineers  to  find  a  way  across  the  Pedrigal.  The 
others,  finding  it  so  hard  and  dangerous  a  task,  soon 
gave  up  and  went  back  to  camp,  but  Captain  Lee  kept 
searching  until  he  found  a  narrow  path,  which  was  barely 
wide  enough  for  a  single  mule  to  pass. 

The  Americans  began  work  and  broke  this  path  out 
wide  enough  so  the  men  could  pass  and  so  cannon  and 
wagons  could  be  carried  across.  When  all  was  ready, 
Captain  Lee  led  a  part  of  the  American  army  across  the 
Pedrigal.  At  last,  after  hard  work,  they  came  out  on 
the  great  highway  to  the  city  from  the  southwest.  Here 
was  a  little  town  and,  on  a  high  rock,  was  a  fortress 
called  Contreras.     It  was  held  by  Mexican  troops. 

There  were  not  enough  Americans  in  the  division 
that  had  crossed  the  Pedrigal  to  take  Contreras.  A 
message  had  to  be  carried  to  General  Scott  at  the  Ha- 
cienda of  San  Antonio.  It  was  five  miles  back,  and  all 
knew  there  were  Mexicans  in  hiding,  everywhere.  Be- 
sides, the  night  was  very  dark  and  a  storm  was  raging. 

Captain  Lee  was  again  the  man  who  could.  He  set 
out  and  made  the  trip  safely,  despite  the  darkness,  the 


112  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

storm,  and  the  Mexicans  who  would  have  been  glad  to 
capture  him.  General  Scott  said  that  this  was  the 
greatest,  boldest  feat  of  any  one  man  during  the  whole 
campaign.  Lee,  having  returned  to  Contreras,  led  the 
attack,  which  was  successful.  Then  another  fortress 
called  Cherubusco  was  stormed  by  the  Americans. 
For  bravery  in  this  battle,  Lee  was  brevetted  lieuten- 
ant colonel. 

The  last  of  the  forts  that  stood  between  the  Americans 
and  the  city  of  Mexico  was  Chapultepec.  Captain 
Lee  was  again  put  to  work  to  place  the  batteries  of  big 
guns.  He  was  busy  day  and  night  until  all  was  ready. 
Then  the  batteries  boomed  away  at  Chapultepec,  day 
after  day.  The  Mexicans  were  firing  at  the  Americans 
too.  In  this  engagement  Lee  was  wounded.  He  had 
already  lost  two  whole  nights  of  sleep,  so  he  was  very 
weak  and  weary,  but  he  did  not  give  up  till  he  fainted. 
His  wound  was  not  a  serious  one  and  he  was  soon 
well. 

General  Scott  again  praised  Lee  for  his  energy  and 
courage,  and  afterwards  declared  that  his  own  success 
in  Mexico  was  largely  due  to  the  "skill,  valor,  and  un- 
daunted energy  of  Robert  E.  Lee."  Lee  was  now  made 
a  colonel. 

At  last  the  capital  of  Mexico  was  taken.  General 
Scott  and  his  army  marched  in,  and  Colonel  Lee  was 
with  the  squadron  that  went  to  the  Grand  Plaza  and 


THE   CAPTAIN   OF   ENGINEERS  113 

took  possession  of  the  Halls  of  the  Montezumas.  As 
most  of  the  Mexican  government  officers  had  left  the 
city,  the  Americans  had  the  palace  and  public  buildings 
to  themselves. 

There  was  no  more  fighting.  But  the  army  had  to 
wait  in  Mexico  until  a  treaty  of  peace  could  be  made  and 
agreed  upon.  Meanwhile,  Colonel  Lee  took  great  in- 
terest in  the  terms  of  the  treaty.  He  thought  it  would 
not  be  fair  to  make  the  Mexicans  give  up  too  much 
because  they  were  whipped.  He  said,  "I  would  not 
exact  more  now  than  before  the  war.  I  should  wish 
nothing  but  what  is  just,  and  that  I  would  have  sooner 
or  later." 

General  Scott  and  some  of  his  officers  had  had  differ- 
ences during  the  campaign.  Colonel  Lee  spent  a  part 
of  his  spare  time  now  in  trying  to  bring  these  officers 
to  a  better  understanding  with  their  commander,  and 
he  succeeded  very  well. 

Colonel  Lee  and  the  other  engineer  officers  also  passed 
a  portion  of  their  time  in  making  surveys  and  drawings 
of  the  city  and  its  defenses.  One  evening  some  of  the 
officers  were  talking  together  in  one  of  the  Mexican 
palaces.  They  were  speaking  of  the  dangers  and  diffi- 
culties they  had  overcome  on  the  march  from  Vera 
Cruz  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  Then  it  was  proposed  that 
they  drink  a  toast  to  Colonel  Lee,  of  the  engineers,  to 
whose  skill  so  great  a  part  of  their  success  was  due.     All 

TWO   GREAT   SOUTHERNERS  —  8 


H4      •  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

gladly  agreed.  And  then  it  was  discovered  that  Lee 
was  not  present. 

One  of  the  officers  went  to  look  for  him.  At  last  Lee 
was  found  all  alone  in  a  distant  room  of  the  palace.  He 
was  busy  drawing  a  map.  The  officer  said  to  him, 
"What  are  you  doing  here  ?  Why  are  you  not  enjoying 
yourself  with  us  ?  " 

Lee  looked  up  and  pointed  to  his  drawing  instruments. 

"But,"  said  the  officer,  "this  is  drudgery.  Leave  it 
to  some  one  else  to  do." 

Lee  replied,  "No.  I  cannot  do  that.  I  am  only 
doing  my  duty." 

A  great  many  of  the  officers  in  the  army,  now  that 
the  war  was  ended,  were  eager  for  promotion  because 
of  their  services.  And  so  they  and  their  friends  began 
to  ask  the  President  to  give  them  higher  and  better 
positions  in  the  army.  But  Colonel  Lee  said  he  hoped 
none  of  his  friends  would  trouble  themselves  on  his 
account.  He  said  if  the  President  saw  fit  to  bestow  any 
promotion  on  him,  he  would  gratefully  receive  it,  and 
he  had  no  doubt  that  whatever  he  might  be  given  in 
that  way  would  be  greater  than  he  deserved. 

Finally,  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico  was  made  and  signed.  Then  there  was  noth- 
ing left  the  American  army  but  to  return  home. 
Colonel  Lee  could  now  go  to  his  wife,  his  boys,  and 
girls,  and  so  he  set  out.     Traveling  in  those  days  was 


AT   HOME  115 

still  slow,  for  there  were  not  yet  many  railroads  and 
steamboats.  However,  he  at  last  reached  Washington 
City,  and  would  soon  be  at  Arlington. 


CHAPTER  VI 

AT   HOME 

Colonel  Lee's  family  was  expecting  him.  A  car- 
riage was  sent  to  Washington  to  meet  him.  But  he 
missed  it,  and  so  rode  on  to  Arlington  alone.  The 
distance  was  short,  and  he  was  soon  there.  His  little 
dog,  Spec,  was  the  first  one  on  the  place  to  meet  him. 
Spec  jumped  and  barked  and  was  so  glad  that  he 
could  not  be  still. 

Colonel  Lee's  little  son,  Robert  Edward,  Jr.,  had  never 
seen  his  father.  So  when  he  knew  his  soldier  papa  was 
coming  home,  he  wished  to  put  on  his  best  dress.  This 
dress  was  made  of  a  pretty  cloth  with  a  blue  ground, 
having  a  white  diamond  figure.  Little  Robert  thought 
it  very  fine,  and  he  was  extremely  proud  of  it.  His 
black  mammy,  Eliza,  objected  to  his  wearing  it,  but 
he  was  going  to  see  his  father  for  the  first  time,  and  so 
he  had  his  way.  Then  clad  in  his  finest,  with  his  hair 
curled  in  long  golden  ringlets,  he  felt  very  grand.  As 
it  chanced,  he  had  company  that  day.  A  little  friend 
of  about  his  own  age  was  visiting  him.     So  together 


Ii6  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

they  went  into  the  large  front  room  to  wait  for  the 
hero,  the  great  soldier,  to  come. 

At  last  they  heard  Spec's  barking  and  then  they  saw 
a  tall,  fine-looking  man  in  a  beautiful  soldier's  uniform 
ride  up.  He  dismounted  and  came  springing  up  the 
steps  and  into  the  room.  Little  Robert  knew  this  was 
his  father,  but  big  Robert  did  not  know  his  son  so 
well.  For  after  he  had  greeted  the  others  of  his  family, 
Colonel  Lee  said,  "Where  is  my  little  boy  ?"  He  soon 
found  little  Robert  and  his  friend  who  were  back  behind 
the  larger  boys  and  girls,  and  then  he  took  up  the  little 
friend  and  hugged  and  kissed  him.  The  great  soldier 
thought  this  was  his  own  little  boy.  Of  course  Robert 
got  his  share  of  hugging  and  love  pretty  soon,  but  he 
was  grieved  that  his  father  had  mistaken  his  friend  for 
himself,  even  though  he  was  wearing  his  best  dress. 

Colonel  Lee  had  seven  children.  As  you  might  like  to 
know  their  names,  here  they  are  in  the  order  of  their 
ages.  First  was  George  Washington  Custis,  then  Mary, 
William  Henry  Fitzhugh,  Annie,  Agnes,  Robert  Ed- 
ward, and  Mildred.  Now  that  he  was  at  home  again, 
they  were  all  very  happy.  But  he  had  been  away  so 
long  that  even  the  older  boys  and  girls  hardly  knew 
him.  His  face  had  some  lines  in  it,  and  his  hair  was  just 
beginning  to  become  gray.  So  he  did  not  look  as  they 
had  expected.  They  would  gaze  at  him  and  seem  to  be 
wondering.     This  was  funny  to  him,  and  he  laughed  at 


COLONEL   ROBERT   E.    LEE 
From  a  photograph  taken  about  1852 


117 


n8  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

them.  But  they  soon  got  used  to  his  looks,  and  then 
they  all  had  good  times  with  him. 

A  great  many  of  the  soldiers  brought  back  curious 
things  which  they  got  in  Mexico.  But  to  many  people 
the  queerest  thing  Lee  brought  home  was  a  bottle  of 
whisky  that  he  had  carried  through  the  whole  war 
without  opening.  A  lady  had  given  it  to  him  when  he 
started  to  Mexico,  saying  she  was  sure  he  would  need  it. 
But  he  had  not  needed  it,  and  he  had  shown  that  it  was 
possible  to  be  a  brave  soldier  without  using  whisky. 
It  was  once  said  of  him  that  he  had  none  of  the  smaller 
vices,  such  as  smoking,  chewing,  drinking,  and  swearing, 
and  that  not  even  his  bitterest  enemies  had  ever  accused 
him  of  any  of  the  greater  vices. 

Lee  dearly  loved  his  family  and  his  home.  His 
thoughts  were  always  turning  to  them.  In  one  of 
his  letters  home  from  Mexico,  he  wrote,  "Oh,  what 
pleasure  I  lose  in  being  separated  from  my  children  ! 
Nothing  can  compensate  me  for  that." 

As  the  war  was  now  ended  and  there  was  no  more 
righting,  Colonel  Lee  rested  for  a  while,  then  went  back 
to  his  work  on  the  Corps  of  Engineers.  He  was  put  in 
charge  of  some  fortifications  that  were  being  erected 
near  Baltimore.  So  now  he  could  have  his  family  with 
him  and  they  could  be  at  home  together.  Going  to 
Baltimore  in  1849,  they  lived  there  for  three  years. 

Each  morning  a  boat  was  brought  to  the  wharves 


AT  HOME  119 

at  the  southern  end  of  the  city  by  some  soldiers, 
who  came  to  carry  Colonel  Lee  to  the  works.  After 
he  reached  the  fortifications,  he  would  spend  the  day 
there  overlooking  and  directing  what  was  done.  Some- 
times he  carried  little  Robert  with  him.  At  noon  they 
would  go  to  a  farmhouse  near  by,  and  then  they  would 
have  a  good  country  dinner. 

One  morning  Colonel  Lee  took  Robert  down  to  the 
wharf  to  see  a  vessel  that  had. just  reached  port  from 
Vera  Cruz.  The  vessel  was  being  unloaded.  At  last 
they  saw  a  mustang  pony  swung  off.  He  had  been  on 
the  voyage  a  long  time  and  had  had  very  little  attention. 
He  was  very  tired  and  sick,  and  all  together,  he  was  a 
sad-looking  pony.  He  had  been  sent  to  Colonel  Lee  for 
Robert,  who  now  took  charge  of  Santa  Anna,  as  the 
pony  was  named,  and  began  to  curry  and  feed  him. 
The  pony  was  soon  looking  better,  and  with  the  help  of 
a  big  strong  Irishman,  Robert  learned  to  ride  him. 
Santa  Anna  was  then  a  member  of  the  Lee  family. 

Colonel  Lee's  own  horse  was  named  Grace  Darling. 
She  was  a  beautiful  and  faithful  one.  She  had  carried 
her  master  through  the  Mexican  War.  She  had  gone 
through  many  dangers  and  had  not  always  escaped 
unhurt,  for  she  had  been  wounded  no  less  than  seven 
times.  When  Lee  started  home  from  the  war,  he  was 
eager  to  reach  his  wife,  his  boys,  and  girls,  as  quickly  as 
possible.    But  as  he  knew  that  the  shortest  route  home 


120  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

was  very  hard  on  horses,  he  chose  a  longer  route  for  the 
sake  of  his  faithful  Grace  Darling.  So  now  he  had  her 
with  him  in  Baltimore,  and  she,  too,  was  for  many  years 
a  member  of  the  family. 

Often  Colonel  Lee  on  Grace  Darling  and  Robert  on 
Santa  Anna  went  for  a  ride.  Santa  Anna  was  an  ex- 
cellent horse  to  canter,  but  Colonel  Lee  had  Robert 
make  him  trot,  as  he  said  the  "hammering""  was  good 
for  his  son.  He  thought  it  would  make  the  boy  strong 
and  hardy  to  ride  roughly.  They  took  many  of  these 
rides  during  the  years  at  Baltimore. 

You  remember  Lee's  dog  Dart,  that  he  saved  from 
drowning  in  New  York  Harbor  ?  Well,  one  day  while 
the  family  was  still  living  at  Fort  Hamilton,  Dart  came 
and  whined  and  begged  some  one  to  go  with  her.  She 
wanted  to  show  some  little  wooly,  squirming,  blind 
puppies.  She  seemed  very  proud  of  them.  But  as 
there  were  now  more  dogs  than  the  Lees  needed  at  their 
house,  when  they  had  grown  large  enough,  all  of  them 
except  one  went  to  live  with  other  people,  who  wanted 
dogs.     The  one  that  stayed  with  them  was  named  Spec. 

Spec  grew  rapidly.  He  was  a  pretty,  black-and-tan 
terrier.  It  was  suggested  that  his  tail  and  ears  be 
cropped,  but  Colonel  Lee  would  not  allow  this  to  be 
done.  Like  all  puppies,  Spec  was  a  wonderfully  smart 
dog.  It  was  not  long  before  he  seemed  to  feel  that  he 
was  the  most  important  one  of  the  family. 


AT   HOME  121 

Colonel  Lee  was  very  fond  of  him.  He  often  talked 
to  Spec  as  though  he  were  one  of  his  children.  While 
Lee  was  in  Mexico,  Spec  became  ill.  Then  Colonel  Lee 
wrote  his  wife  a  letter,  asking  if  she  could  not  cure  poor 
Spec.  "Cheer  him  up,"  he  wrote,  "take  him  to  walk 
with  you  and  tell  the  children  to  cheer  him  up."  He 
did  not  want  his  dog  to  die.  Another  time  he  sent  this 
message  to  Spec  from  Mexico,  "Tell  him  I  wish  he 
were  here  with  me.  He  would  have  been  of  great 
service  in  telling  me  when  I  was  coming  upon  the  Mexi- 
cans. When  I  was  reconnoitering  around  Vera  Cruz, 
their  dogs  frequently  told  me  by  barking  when  I  was 
approaching  them  too  nearly."  Lee  also  loved  his  cats, 
but  Spec  was  so  jealous  that  as  long  as  he  lived  the 
cats  received  very  little  attention. 

While  the  Lees  lived  in  Baltimore,  Spec  always  went 
to  church  with  them.  During  the  service,  he  would  sit 
and  look  very  serious.  Some  of  the  other  children  at 
church  thought  his  actions  very  funny,  so  they  laughed 
at  him  and  made  a  noise.  For  this  reason,  Colonel  Lee 
decided  that  Spec  must  not  go  to  church  any  more. 
He  was  therefore  shut  in  a  room  upstairs  to  stay  while 
the  family  went  to  services  without  him.  As  Spec 
did  not  like  this,  he  barked  and  howled  at  a  great  rate. 
When  he  looked  from  the  window  and  saw  them  leaving, 
he  barked  and  howled  worse  than  ever.  He  saw  the 
children  looking  back  and  knew  they  were  sorry  for 


122  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

him.  After  they  were  out  of  sight,  he  seemed  to  think 
he  could  never  stand  it  to  be  left  alone  such  a  long  time, 
for  he  jumped  out  of  the  window  to  the  hard  paved 
street  below.  It  did  not  hurt  him  too  badly  to  keep 
him  from  traveling,  so  he  limped  off  as  fast  as  he  could 
and  got  to  church  just  as  the  Lees  were  entering.  The 
younger  children  were  delighted.  After  that,  Spec  went 
to  church  whenever  he  wished  to  go.  It  was  while  the 
Lees  lived  in  Baltimore  that  Spec  at  last  died  and  was 
buried  with  fitting  honors. 

Colonel  Lee  petted  his  two  younger  children,  Robert 
and  Mildred,  a  great  deal.  In  the  evenings  before  they 
went  to  bed,  he  would  tell  them  stories.  If  they  grew 
sleepy  and  began  to  nod,  he  would  arouse  them  by 
poking  them  with  his  toes.  Often  when  they  awoke 
in  the  morning,  they  would  go  and  get  into  his  warm 
bed  with  him,  for  there  was  nothing  they  liked  better. 
Then  while  he  told  them  interesting  stories,  they  would 
cuddle  very  close  to  him  and  listen.  He  often  played 
with  the  children.  Sometimes  he  would  jump  or  run 
with  the  boys. 

He  was  always  kind  and  good.  Some  ladies  in  Balti- 
more said,  "Everybody  and  everything, — his  family, 
his  friends,  his  horse,  his  dog,  — everything  loves  Colonel 
Lee."  And  this  was  true,  for  he  loved  them,  and  they 
in  turn  loved  him. 

After  a  time,  in  1852,  Lee  was  made  Commandant 


AT   HOME  123 

of  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  Again  he 
could  have  his  family  with  him  —  his  wife,  his  boys  and 
girls,  Grace  Darling,  Santa  Anna,  the  dogs  and  cats,  — 
all  went  to  live  with  him  there.  Colonel  Lee's  oldest 
son,  Custis,  was  already  a  cadet  in  the  Academy. 

Lee  began,  while  at  West  Point,  to  train  Robert,  who 
had  now  grown  to  be  quite  a  large  boy,  to  attend  to  his 
own  room  just  as  the  cadets  did.  Robert  made  his 
own  bed,  dusted  his  floor,  and  put  away  his  own  clothes, 
and  each  day  his  room  was  inspected  by  his  father. 
Robert  was  proud  to  have  him  do  this  and  was  always 
very  glad  when  his  father  said  the  room  was  in  good 
order.  Colonel  Lee  was  training  Robert  in  this  way  to 
make  him  practical  and  useful. 

While  at  West  Point,  young  Robert  was  in  school 
most  of  the  time.  His  father  would  often  go  to  his 
room  at  night  and  help  him  with  his  lessons.  He  did 
not  read  the  Latin  sentences  nor  give  him  answers  to 
the  problems,  but  he  would  ask  questions  that  led  Rob- 
ert to  get  them  right  for  himself.  Whenever  Robert 
brought  home  a  good  report,  Colonel  Lee  was  very 
proud,  but  he  always  insisted  on  Robert's  getting  the 
highest  marks  possible.  Colonel  Lee  and  this  son  Rob- 
ert were  close  companions. 

Colonel  Lee  now  gave  Robert  a  small  gun.  There 
were  a  great  many  crows  in  the  near-by  fields  and 
woods.     To  encourage  Robert  to  hunt  these  cunning 


COLONEL   LEE   INSPECTING   HIS   SON  S   ROOM 


124 


AT  HOME  125 

and  troublesome  birds,  he  offered  him  a  reward  for 
every  crow's  scalp  he  could  take.  With  great  eagerness, 
Robert  began  hunting.  In  the  woods  he  would  sight 
a  crow  and  then  he  would  creep  stealthily  along  until 
he  thought  he  was  almost  near  enough  to  shoot.  But 
before  he  could  take  aim  and  fire,  "Caw,  caw  ! "  and 
away  would  fly  the  watchful  crow,  leaving  Robert  to 
follow  him  or  to  hunt  up  another  one.  He  was  de- 
termined, however,  and  after  several  days  he  at  last 
killed  two  crows.  He  now  thought  he  could  kill  any 
number,  and  his  enthusiasm  knew  no  bounds.  He 
began  to  plan  the  many  things  he  would  buy  with  the 
money  he  was  going  to  make  by  killing  crows.  Colonel 
Lee  paid  him  the  reward  promised,  but  Robert  thought 
he  saw  a  sly  twinkle  in  his  father's  eyes  when  he  boasted 
of  how  many  more  of  the  mischievous  birds  he  would 
kill.  This  did  not  discourage  him,  and  he  kept  up  his 
hunting  with  great  vigor,  but  Robert  killed  no  more 
crows  and  Colonel  Lee  paid  no  more  rewards. 

The  two  still  took  their  long  rides  together  on  Grace 
Darling  and  Santa  Anna.  On  one  of  these  rides,  they 
saw  three  cadets  in  the  road  ahead  of  them.  As 
soon  as  the  cadets  saw  the  Commandant  and  Robert, 
they  leaped  over  a  wall  and  ran  into  a  thicket.  As  they 
rode  on,  Colonel  Lee  did  not  say  anything  for  a  time. 
Then  he  said  to  Robert,  "Did  you  know  those  young 
men  ?     But  no ;  if  you  did,  don't  say  so.     I  wish  boys 


126  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

would  do  what  is  right;  it  would  be  so  much  easier  for 
all  parties."  As  it  was  against  the  rules  for  the  cadets 
to  leave  the  Academy  and  go  beyond  certain  limits 
without  permission,  it  would  have  been  Colonel  Lee's 
duty  to  punish  them  if  he  had  learned  who  they  were. 
Not  being  quite  sure  about  this,  he  was  willing  for  the 
three  boys  to  have  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

Lee's  family  and  friends  persuaded  him  to  have  his 
portrait  painted  while  he  was  Commandant  at  West 
Point.  He  sat  for  it  only  once.  After  that,  the  painter 
had  to  finish  the  work  from  memory  and  from  glimpses 
he  could  catch  as  Colonel  Lee  went  about  the  campus. 
Lee  said  he  had  no  time  to  sit  down  to  have  his  por- 
trait painted.  The  picture,  however,  was  said  to  be 
a  most  excellent  likeness  of  him. 

On  Saturday  there  was  always  a  half  holiday  at 
West  Point.  Most  of  the  cadets  were  at  a  distance 
from  their  homes,  and  were  thus  mostly  cut  off  from 
social  life.  So  in  order  to  make  them  have  a  better 
time,  nearly  every  Saturday  evening,  some  of  them  were 
invited  to  Colonel  Lee's  house  for  supper.  They  would 
come  dressed  in  their  uniforms,  very  stiff  and  grand.  At 
first  they  usually  would  be  very  much  embarrassed  to 
find  themselves  in  company  with  the  Commandant, 
but  Colonel  Lee  would  talk  so  freely  and  easily  with 
them  about  things  they  understood  and  were  interested 
in  that  they  were  soon  feeling  comfortable   and  were 


THE   CAVALRY  OFFICER  127 

having  good  times.  It  was  thought  a  great  honor 
among  the  cadets  to  be  invited  to  his  home. 

Colonel  Lee  was  always  a  very  prompt  man.  He  was 
never  late.  He  was  always  the  first  one  of  the  family  to 
be  ready  for  church.  He  would  sometimes  tease  Mrs. 
Lee  for  being  late  or  forgetting  something  at  the  last 
moment.  When  he  was  ready,  he  would  wait  for  the 
others  as  long  as  he  could,  not  to  be  late  himself.  He 
would  then  say,  "I'm  off,"  and  march  along  to  church 
with  any  of  the  children  that  happened  to  be  ready.  At 
church  he  sat  up  very  straight,  and  you  may  be  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  he  sometimes  napped  a  little  when 
the  sermon  was  long.  But  he  was  a  good  man  and 
a  true  Christian. 

In  this  chapter,  we  have  seen  something  of  Lee  at 
home  with  his  wife,  his  boys  and  girls,  his  horses,  cats, 
and  dogs.  This  period  of  three  years  in  Baltimore  and 
three  years  at  West  Point  was  the  longest  he  was  ever 
permitted  to  spend  with  his  family.  It  was  a  very 
happy  time  for  them  all,  and  his  children  never  forgot  it. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   CAVALRY   OFFICER 

As  we  have  already  seen,  while  Jefferson  Davis  was 
Secretary  of  War,  two  regiments  of  cavalry  were  added 


128  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

to  the  United  States  army.  In  1855,  Lee  was  ap- 
pointed lieutenant  colonel  in  one  of  the  regiments, 
the  Second.  So  he  left  West  Point  to  take  this  place. 
It  was  the  first  time  Lee  had  ever  been  a  commander 
of  men  in  the  army.  Before  this  he  had  been  merely 
an  engineer.  After  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  Lee  was 
the  highest  officer  in  his  regiment. 

The  family  now  went  to  Arlington  to  live,  while  he 
went  with  his  regiment  to  Texas.  Their  happy  home 
life  together  was  broken  up. 

At  this  time,  there  were  in  Texas  two  tribes  of  espe- 
cially troublesome  Indians,  the  Apaches  and  the 
Comanches.  The  United  States  government  was  try- 
ing to  care  for  them  as  well  as  to  control  them,  but  they 
were  very  savage  and  hard  to  manage.  The  Comanches 
were  a  fierce  tribe  that  ate  raw  meat,  slept  on  the  ground, 
and  were  thieves  and  murderers.  They  were  fine  horse- 
men, and  on  their  tough  ponies  they  liked  to  leave  their 
retreats  during  the  summer,  kill  the  whites,  and  drive 
off  their  cattle  and  horses  for  themselves. 

The  government  had  a  line  of  forts  built  and  then  put 
soldiers  in  them  to  watch  for  the  Indians  and  to  drive 
them  away  whenever  a  raid  was  attempted.  But  still 
the  Indians  could  not  be  kept  from  doing  a  great  deal  of 
harm.  So  Colonel  Lee's  regiment  of  cavalry  was  to 
spend  a  part  of  its  time  between  the  forts  to  keep  the 
Indians  in  check. 


THE   CAVALRY   OFFICER  129 

Near  Lee's  first  post,  Camp  Cooper,  was  an  Indian 
Reserve.  Here  the  Indians  would  come  to  be  fed  by  the 
government  during  the  winter  when  it  was  cold  and  food 
scarce.  But  in  the  spring  when  the  grass  grew,  and  game 
and  cattle  were  fat,  they  would  go  off  and  get  ready  to 
make  a  raid  on  the  white  people  who  had  fed  them. 

One  of  their  chiefs  was  named  Catumseh.  Lee  visited 
this  old  chief  and  told  him  that  he  would  treat  him  as 
a  friend  as  long  as  he  behaved,  but  if  he  did  not  act  as 
he  should,  he  would  treat  him  as  an  enemy.  Catumseh 
did  not  like  this  talk  from  the  American  officer,  so  he 
gave  an  ugly  grunt  and  said  that  since  he  had  six  wives, 
he  was  a  big  Indian.  Lee  ought  to  get  more  wives  be- 
fore he  talked.  Thus  little  good  was  done  by  the  talk, 
for  soon  afterwards  Colonel  Lee  was  sent  with  four  com- 
panies of  his  regiment  on  an  expedition  against  these 
Indians.  The  white  soldiers  could  not  find  them,  for 
they  had  slipped  away  to  their  hiding  places  in  the  wild 
deserts.  Lee  did  not  like  the  Indians  very  much,  and 
he  said  the  wretched  creatures  gave  more  trouble  than 
they  were  worth. 

Here  is  a  part  of  a  letter  that  Colonel  Lee  wrote  his 
wife  from  Camp  Cooper,  "My  Fourth  of  July  was 
spent  after  a  march  of  thirty  miles  on  one  of  the  branches 
of  the  Brazos,  under  my  blanket,  which  rested  on  four 
sticks  driven  in  the  ground,  as  a  sunshade.  The  sun 
was  fiery  hot,  the  air  like  a  furnace,  and  the  water  salt ; 

TWO  GREAT  SOUTHERNERS  —  9 


i3° 


ROBERT  E.   LEE 


still  my  love  for  my  country  was  as  great,  my  faith  in 
her  future  as  true,  as  they  would  have  been  under  better 
circumstances." 

Soon  afterwards  a  terrible  disease  broke  out  among  the 
soldiers  and  other  people.  Many  of  them  died.  Colonel 
Lee  wrote  home  that  he  himself  had  read  the  church 
service  over  a  little  boy  that  had  died. 

It  was  while  he  was  in  Texas  that  he  wrote  so  good  a 
letter  to  his  son  Custis  that  you  should  read  it.  "You 
must  study,"  he  wrote,  "to  be  frank  with  the  world  — 
never  do  a  wrong  thing  to  make  a  friend  or  to  keep  one. 
Do  not  appear  to  others  what  you  are  not."  In  closing 
this  letter,  Colonel  Lee  wrote  that  nearly  a  hundred 
years  before,  there  was  a  day  that  was  very  dark,  almost 
like  night.  The  sun  was  hidden,  the  chickens  went  to 
roost,  and  animals  and  people  were  badly  frightened. 
Many  believed  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  near  and 
that  the  Day  of  Judgment  was  at  hand.  In  Connecti- 
cut the  legislature  was  in  session.  The  darkness  and 
dread  were  so  great  that  some  members  proposed  that 
they  adjourn.  But  one  old  legislator,  Davenport  of 
Stamford,  said,  "Let  lights  be  brought  so  we  may  pro- 
ceed with  our  business.  Even  though  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment should  be  at  hand,  I  desire  to  be  found  doing  my 
duty."  Lee  said  the  man's  soul  was  full  of  heavenly 
quiet  and  a  willingness  to  do  his  duty.  "Duty  then," 
he  wrote  Custis,  "is  the  sublimest  word  in  the  language. 


THE   CAVALRY   OFFICER  131 

Do  your  duty  in  all  things  like  the  old  Puritan.  You 
cannot  do  more ;  you  should  never  wish  to  do  less. 
Never  let  me  or  your  mother  wear  one  gray  hair  for  any 
lack  of  duty  on  your  part."  Do  you  wonder  that  Custis 
Lee  himself  became  a  great  and  noble  man  ? 

In  the  summer  of  1857,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  was 
sent  away  from  Texas,  and  Lee,  the  next  in  command, 
was  made  the  commander  of  the  regiment. 

During  the  fall  of  1857,  Lee's  father-in-law,  Mr.  Cus- 
tis, died,  and  Lee  went  home.  Mr.  Custis  left  Arling- 
ton and  the  rest  of  the  land  to  his  daughter.  Colonel 
Lee  had  always  taken  delight  in  thoughts  of  a  farm.  It 
was  now  his  duty  to  see  after  his  wife's  estates  at  Ar- 
lington and  the  White  House,  a  large  place  on  the  Pa- 
munkey  River.  In  this  work,  he  took  great  pride  and 
interest.  He  had  the  buildings,  roads,  and  fences  re- 
paired and  improved.  The  stock  and  cattle  were  better 
fed  and  cared  for.  He  liked  this  so  well  he  said  he 
longed  for  the  time  when  he  could  live  on  a  farm  in 
quiet  and  peace. 

Mr.  Custis  had  directed  in  his  will  that  at  the  end  of 
five  years  all  his  slaves  should  be  set  free.  Lee  was 
chosen  by  him  to  see  that  the  provisions  of  the  will  were 
carried  out. 

After  staying  with  his  wife  and  family  as  long  as  he 
could,  and  settling  Mr.  Custis's  affairs  as  far  as  possible, 
Colonel  Lee  went  back  to  Texas.     He  was  soon  busy  in 


132  ROBERT   E.    LEE 

an  attempt  to  capture  a  noted  Mexican  brigand  whose 
name  was  Cortinez.  This  robber  and  his  companions 
would  steal  across  the  border  into  Texas  and  take  the 
ranchmen's  horses  and  drive  off  their  cattle.  The  rob- 
bers knew  the  country  so  well  that  they  could  get  back 
into  Mexico  before  they  could  be  overtaken.  Colonel 
Lee  spent  several  months  in  trying  to  capture  Cortinez, 
but  most  of  the  time  was  taken  up  in  finding  water  and 
pasturage  for  his  horses.  He  would  pursue  the  robbers 
till  his  horses  and  men  were  exhausted.  The  plains 
were  so  hot  and  dry,  it  was  then  necessary  to  hunt  grass 
and  water.  Cortinez  could  easily  manage  to  refresh 
his  men  and  horses,  but  by  the  time  Lee  could  do  the 
same  thing,  Cortinez  would  be  safe  in  Mexico. 

Colonel  Lee  spent  two  years  more  in  chasing  Indians 
and  robbers,  and  then  he  went  for  another  visit  to  Ar- 
lington. But  he  did  not  rest  all  the  time  on  this  visit, 
for  he  had  an  important  duty  to  perform,  about  which 
you  shall  now  hear. 

John  Brown  was  a  man  who  was  brought  up  in  Con- 
necticut. He  became  convinced  that  slavery  was 
wrong,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  ended  in  the  United 
States.  One  of  his  relatives  had  been  killed  in  Kansas 
during  the  disputes  over  slavery  there.  This  loss  deeply 
grieved  him  and  made  him  more  anxious  than  ever  to 
destroy  slavery.  He  finally  imagined  that  the  Lord 
had  chosen  him  especially  for  the  work  of  freeing  the 


THE   CAVALRY   OFFICER  133 

slaves.  It  is  believed  that  he  became  somewhat  crazy 
on  the  subject,  but  perhaps  he  was  only  very  much  in 
earnest  in  his  opinions.  He  did  not  know  that  most 
slaves  in  the  South  were  happy  and  loved  their  masters; 
he  thought  they  were  very  unhappy  and  wretched. 

At  last  he  came  to  think  they  ought  to  be  freed  by  any 
means  possible.  He  made  up  his  mind  that  if  no  one 
else  would  help  the  negroes,  he  himself  would.  He 
thought  if  they  were  given  a  little  help  and  encourage- 
ment, the  slaves  would  rise  against  their  masters  and 
free  themselves.  So  on  Sunday  night,  October  16, 1859, 
Brown  with  twenty-one  other  white  men,  took  posses- 
sion of  the  armory  at  Harper's  Ferry  in  Virginia.  These 
men  now  expected  that  the  slaves  all  over  the  South 
would  rise  and  join  them,  and  thus  the  task  would  soon 
be  accomplished.  Some  of  Brown's  men  went  to  the 
near-by  plantations,  and  seized  horses,  wagons,  carriages, 
and  slaves.  The  owners  of  the  plantations  were  cap- 
tured and  carried  to  the  engine  house  of  the  town  as 
prisoners.  Brown  and  his  men  shut  themselves  and 
their  prisoners  in  the  building  and  barricaded  the 
doors.  As  the  negroes  did  not  join  him  as  he  had  ex- 
pected, Brown  and  his  men  were  alone.  But  the  grim 
old  Abolitionist  would  not  despair,  but  determined  to 
hold  out  to  the  last. 

As  you  have  already  seen,  Colonel  Lee  was  at  home 
at  this  time.     President  Buchanan  sent  him  with  some 


134 


ROBERT   E.   LEE 


soldiers  to  arrest  Brown.  Colonel  Lee  reached  Har- 
per's Ferry  soon  after  Brown  had  shut  himself  in  the 
engine  house.  He  sent  a  message  to  Brown  to  try  to 
show  him  the  folly  of  his  efforts  to  free  the  negroes  in 
that  way,  and  he  urged  Brown  to  surrender  without 
giving  further  trouble.  He  also  promised  Brown  a  fair 
trial  by  officers  of  the  law. 

But  Brown  said  he  would  not  surrender.  So  then 
Colonel  Lee's  men  were  ordered  to  batter  down  the  door 
of  the  engine  house.  With  a  heavy  beam  of  timber,  they 
went  to  work.  Lee  and  his  men  were  now  fired  on  by 
Brown's  men,  but  Lee's  soldiers  soon  had  the  door 
broken  open  and  John  Brown  and  his  raiders  were 
captured,  and  turned  over  to  the  civil  officers. 

Having  performed  this  duty,  Lee  returned  to  his 
regiment  in  Texas.  A  part  of  the  next  summer  he  spent 
at  San  Antonio.  He  liked  this  place  better  than  he  had 
liked  the  posts  in  the  deserts,  as  there  were  more  people 
and  he  had  the  chance  to  enjoy  a  little  social  life.  The 
Episcopalians  were  trying  to  build  a  church  for  them- 
selves in  the  town,  and  Colonel  Lee,  who  was  of  the 
Episcopal  faith,  was  glad  to  give  them  all  the  help  he 
could. 

At  this  time  when  a  separation  of  the  states  was 
threatening,  he  was  very  much  concerned  because  of  the 
dark  trouble  that  was  gathering  over  the  country.  In 
1 86 1,  after  Texas  had  seceded  from  the  Union,  the 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1861-1862)    135 

United  States  War  Department  ordered  Colonel  Lee 
to  report  to  General  Scott  at  Washington.  He  at  once 
left  Texas  and  reached  the  capital  the  last  of  Febru- 
ary. He  went  to  Arlington  to  rest  for  a  few  days  with 
his  family  and  to  await  results. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   CONFEDERATE    GENERAL    (1861-1862) 

On  the  17th  of  April,  1861,  Virginia  seceded  from  the 
Union.  The  next  day  Colonel  Lee  had  a  long  talk 
with  General  Scott,  and  it  is  said  that  Scott  did  all  he 
could  to  keep  Lee  in  the  United  States  army,  because 
he  had  always  thought  Lee  the  most  useful  man  in  the 
service.  Scott  once  said,  "It  would  be  better  for  every 
officer  in  the  army,  including  myself,  to  die  than 
Robert  Lee,"  and  he  had  already  declared  his  intention 
of  recommending  Lee  as  commander  in  chief  of  the 
American  army,  when  he  himself  should  retire. 

It  is  also  said  that  an  officer  was  sent  by  President 
Lincoln  to  offer  Lee  the  command  of  the  United  States 
army.  Lee  told  the  officer  that  he  himself  was  opposed 
to  secession  and  war  if  they  possibly  could  be  avoided. 
He  said  that  above  all  things  he  wished  to  preserve  the 
Union,  and  that,  if  he  owned  all  the  four  million  slaves 
in  the  South,  he  would  give  them  up  to  save  the  Union, 


136  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

but  he  could  not  draw  his  sword  on  Virginia,  his  native 
State.  He  declared  that  he  could  take  no  part  in  an 
invasion  of  the  Southern  States. 

Therefore,  as  Virginia  had  now  left  the  Union,  there 
was  nothing  for  Lee  to  do  but  to  resign  his  place  in  the 
army.  This  he  did  April  20.  It  cost  him  a  great 
struggle,  for  he  dearly  loved  the  Union,  and  had  spent 
the  greater  part  of  his  life,  and  had  exerted  all  the 
ability  he  had,  in  its  service.  In  his  letter  to  General 
Scott,  explaining  his  action,  Lee  said  Scott  had  always 
been  kind  to  him,  and  Scott's  name  and  fame  would 
always  be  dear  to  Lee.  "Save  in  defense  of  my  native 
state,"  he  wrote,  "I  never  desire  again  to  draw  my 
sword."  Lee  could  no  longer  act  as  Scott  wished,  but  he 
was  grateful  to  him.  About  this  time,  Mrs.  Lee  wrote 
to  a  friend,  "My  husband  has  wept  tears  of  blood  over 
this  terrible  war,  but  he  must,  as  a  man  and  a  Virginian, 
share  the  destiny  of  his  State." 

After  resigning,  Colonel  Lee  wrote  his  brother,  "I  am 
now  a  private  citizen  and  have  no  other  ambition  than 
to  remain  at  home."  To  his  sister  he  wrote,  "I  recog- 
nize no  necessity  for  this  state  of  things,  and  would  have 
forborne  and  pleaded  to  the  end  for  redress  of  grievances, 
real  or  supposed,  yet  in  my  own  person  I  had  to  meet  the 
question  whether  I  should  take  part  against  my  native 
State.  With  all  my  devotion  to  the  Union  —  I  have 
not  been  able  to  make  up  my  mind  to  raise  my  hand 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1861-1862)    137 

against  my  relatives,  my  children,  my  home.     I  have, 
therefore,  resigned." 

Besides  the  pain  of  separating  from  the  Union,  Lee's 
resignation  cost  him  his  fortune,  including  his  beauti- 
ful and  beloved  Arlington.  But  Lee  was  always  duti- 
ful and  honorable.  After  he  had  fought  through  the 
four  long  bitter  years  of  the  war,  after  he  had  lost  his 
property  and  injured  his  health,  he  once  said  that  he  had 
acted  at  first  in  the  only  way  that  was  free  from  dishonor. 
"If  all  were  to  do  over  again,"  he  added,  "I  would  act 
in  precisely  the  same  manner." 

But  however  sure  Lee  was  as  to  his  own  course,  he 
was  unwilling  to  advise  Custis,  who  was  also  in  the 
United  States  army  when  Virginia  seceded.  "Tell 
Custis,"  he  wrote,  "he  must  consult  his  own  judgment, 
reason,  and  conscience  as  to  the  course  he  may  take. 
I  do  not  wish  him  to  be  guided  by  my  wishes  or  example. 
If  I  have  done  wrong,  let  him  do  better."  However, 
Custis  did  follow  his  noble  father's  example  and  joined 
the  Confederate  army.  Robert  Edward,  Jr.,  was  a  pri- 
vate in  the  ranks  until  near  the  close  of  the  war  when  he 
was  promoted  for  bravery.  Lee's  other  son,  William 
Henry  Fitzhugh,  also  served  the  Confederacy. 

Lee  was  not  to  be  permitted  to  remain  at  home  as  he 
had  hoped.  On  April  23 ,  three  days  after  his  resignation 
from  the  United  States  army,  the  Virginia  Convention 
placed  him  in  command  of  the  military  forces  of  that 


138  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

state,  as  major  general.  On  the  next  day,  Major 
General  Lee  was  introduced  to  the  convention  at  Rich- 
mond. He  came  into  the  halls,  a  grand  and  noble 
man.  His  fifty-four  years  had  not  bent  his  tall  and 
handsome  figure.  His  manner  was  grave  and  dignified. 
"A  great  modesty  tempered  all  his  words  and  all  his 
actions,"  and  lent  force  to  the  few  quiet  words  in  which 
he  thanked  them  for  the  honor  bestowed  on  him.  He 
said  he  would  have  much  preferred  it  if  they  had  chosen 
an  abler  man.  He  accepted,  saying  he  would  do  his 
best,  "trusting  in  an  Almighty  God,  an  approving  con- 
science, and  the  aid  of  my  fellow-citizens." 

Major  General  Lee  at  once  began  to  organize,  equip, 
and  drill  the  thousands  of  men  that  now  came  pouring 
into  Richmond.  He  soon  made  them  into  soldiers  and 
formed  an  army.  He  was  extremely  busy,  but  he 
found  time  to  write  letters  to  His  wife,  telling  her  how 
best  to  arrange  everything  for  leaving  their  beloved 
Arlington.  He  gave  her  directions  about  the  pictures, 
plate,  and  furniture  in  the  house,  about  the  horses, 
servants,  and  the  farm,  and  about  the  family.  Lee  was 
very  glad  when  his  wife  had  everything  ready  so  she  and 
the  girls  could  leave  and  find  another  home  more  safe. 

On  May  25,  all  the  Virginia  troops  were  turned  over 
to  the  Confederate  States  government.  Lee  was  now 
no  longer  a  major  general.  Some  people  thought  he 
would  not  be  so  zealous  in  the  cause  as  he  had  been 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL    (1861-1862)        139 

while  a  major  general.  But  Lee  simply  said,  "I  am 
willing  to  serve  anywhere  I  can  be  useful."  It  is  known 
that  at  one  time  he  thought  of  serving  as  a  private 
under  the  command  of  one  of  his  sons.  But  he  soon 
became  a  brigadier  general,  being  one  of  the  five  ap- 
pointed by  the  Confederate  Congress. 

For  a  time  Lee  was  still  kept  busy  making  soldiers  of 
the  men  that  came  to  Richmond  to  join  the  Confederate 
armies.  By  the  end  of  May,  he  had  organized  and  sent 
to  the  field  more  than  thirty  thousand  men.  Also,  for 
two  or  three  months,  he  was  the  military  adviser  of 
President  Davis.  Because  of  Lee's  great  skill  as  an  engi- 
neer, his  experience  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  country  and  the  leaders  on  the  Federal  side, 
Davis  had  the  greatest  confidence  in  Lee's  judgment. 
Their  friendship  and  esteem  for  each  other  had  begun 
when  they  were  both  cadets  at  West  Point.  After 
the  war,  when  Lee's  opinion  of  Davis's  management  of 
the  war  as  President  of  the  Confederacy  was  once  asked, 
he  replied,  "You  can  always  say  few  people  could  have 
done  better  than  Mr.  Davis.  I  know  of  none  that  could 
have  done  as  well."  It  was  once  said  that,  "No  two 
leaders  ever  leaned  each  on  the  other  in  such  beautiful 
trust  and  absolute  confidence.  Hand  in  hand,  heart  to 
heart,  they  moved  to  the  front  of  the  dire  struggle 
of  their  people  for  independence  —  a  noble  pair  of 
brothers."     Their  friendship  was  never  broken. 


140  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

Lee  himself  was  anxious  to  be  where  he  could  take  a 
more  active  part  in  the  war,  and  at  last  he  was  sent  to 
the  western  part  of  Virginia  to  take  charge  of  operations 
there.  He  wrote  his  wife  a  letter  soon  after  he  reached 
this  region,  and  as  was  usual  with  him  when  in  a  new 
place,  he  did  not  fail  to  write  of  the  country.  He  spoke 
of  the  grass-grown  hills  and  the  beautiful  scenery. 

However,  Lee  could  accomplish  but  little  in  West 
Virginia,  because  of  the  mountainous  country,  the  lack 
of  supplies,  and  the  great  numbers  of  the  Federals. 
Besides,  the  people  of  that  section  were  for  the  Union, 
and  they  helped  McClellan,  the  Federal  commander, 
in  many  ways,  furnishing  him  guides  and  bringing  him 
information  of  every  move  of  Lee's  forces.  Then,  too, 
there  were  heavy  rains,  and  a  great  deal  of  sickness  in 
Lee's  small  army,  so  that  he  could  not  make  an  attack 
as  he  had  planned.  In  addition  to  all  these  things,  one 
of  Lee's  orders  was  disobeyed  at  a  time  when  it  brought 
defeat.  But  in  his  report  to  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment, he  was  too  generous  to  lay  the  blame  on  any 
one  else.  At  another  time,  he  was  blamed  for  not  mak- 
ing an  attack  on  the  Federals  in  West  Virginia,  but  as 
he  knew  it  would  not  be  best  at  that  time,  he  paid  no 
attention  to  the  complaint,  and  only  said,  "I  could  not 
afford  to  sacrifice  five  or  six  hundred  of  my  people  to 
silence  public  clamor." 

He  returned  to  Richmond,  but  in  November,  1S61, 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1861-1862)    141 

he  was  sent  to  build  a  line  of  forts  along  the  coast  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  to  ward  off  attacks  from 
the  sea.  Lee  was  still  anxious  to  be  in  the  field  where  the 
fighting  was  going  on,  yet  he  went  to  this  engineering 
work  without  a  complaint.  He  did  it  so  well  that  it  was 
not  until  General  Sherman  made  a  flank  march  from  the 
South,  through  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  that  these 
posts  fell  into  Federal  hands. 

The  winter  of  1861  and  1862  now  came  on,  and  the 
fighting  ceased.  But  meanwhile  the  leaders  on  both 
sides  were  busy  making  plans  and  getting  ready.  Gen- 
eral Lee  thought  it  would  be  best  for  the  armies  of  the 
South  to  stand  ready  to  repel  an  invasion,  and  he  so 
advised.  This  plan  was  adopted  by  the  Confederate 
government.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Federal  govern- 
ment planned  to  invade  the  South  and  capture  Rich- 
mond, its  capital.  In  this  way  they  hoped  to  cut  the 
Confederacy  in  two  and  destroy  it.  As  you  will  see,  a 
great  part  of  the  history  of  the  Civil  War  and  Lee's  part 
in  it  gathers  about  the  attempts  of  the  Federals  to  cap- 
ture Richmond,  and  the  efforts  of  the  Confederates  to 
hold  it. 

So  now  in  the  spring  of  1862, General  McClellan  came 
with  a  large  Federal  army  to  take  the  Confederate  capi- 
tal. General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  met  him  to  drive 
him  back,  and  in  one  of  the  battles  fought,  Johnston 
was  so  badly  wounded  that  he  was  disabled  for  many 


142  ROBERT   E.    LEE 

weeks.  General  Lee  was  now  placed  in  command  of 
the  army  to  defend  Richmond,  and  here  he  remained 
till  the  close  of  the  struggle. 

General  Lee  at  once  began  to  collect  as  large  an  army 
as  he  could.  He  sent  for  General  Thomas  J.  Jackson 
to  help  him  in  keeping  back  McClellan.  J.  E.  B. 
Stuart,  a  cavalry  commander,  was  another  of  Lee's 
generals.  By  the  middle  of  June,  Lee  had  collected 
sixty-five  thousand  men  that  composed  what  was  known 
as  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  General  McClel- 
lan's  force,  called  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  strong. 

McClellan's  army  was  so  near  Richmond  that  people 
on  the  housetops  in  the  city  could  see  the  camp  fires  and 
hear  the  boom  of  the  cannon.  Lee  drew  his  lines  about 
the  city  and  threw  up  earthworks.  He  wished  to  know 
exactly  what  McClellan's  army  was  doing,  so  General 
Stuart,  who  was  afterwards  called  "Lee's  eyes  and  ears," 
led  his  brave  horsemen  quite  around  the  Northern  army 
and  found  out  what  Lee  wished  to  know.  At  last,  on 
the  25th  of  June,  a  battle  between  the  two  armies  was 
begun  that  lasted  for  seven  days.  It  was  called  the 
"Seven  Days'  Battle."  At  its  close,  McClellan  was 
compelled  to  retreat  to  the  James  River,  and  Lee  had 
saved  Richmond  the  first  time,  as  he  was  to  save  it  time 
and  again  later. 

General  John  Pope  was  now  placed  in  command  of  the 


THE-  CONFEDERATE   GENERAL    (1861-1862)  143 

Federal  army.  Lee  and  Jackson  met  him  in  August, 
and  fought  the  Second  Battle  of  Manassas.  Lee  had 
boldly  sent  Stonewall  Jackson  fifty-six  miles  around  to 
get  in  the  rear  of  Pope,  while  he  himself  pressed  Pope 
to  the  northward  from  the  front.  Jackson's  men  could 
go  from  place  to  place  so  swiftly  that  they  were  called 
"foot  cavalry."  On  this  march,  they  hardly  stopped 
to  rest  at  all,  and  they  ate  apples,  green  corn,  and  any- 
thing else  they  could  get,  as  they  hurried  along.  By  the 
end  of  the  second  day  after  he  set  out,  Jackson  had  led 
his  twenty  thousand  men  in  between  General  Pope  and 
Washington  City.  He  then  refreshed  his  troops  with  a 
large  quantity  of  food  that  he  had  captured  at  Manassas 
Junction.  Lee  and  Jackson  had  Pope's  army  between 
them,  and  it  was  now  that  the  Second  Battle  of  Man- 
assas was  fought.  Both  armies  fought  bravely,  but 
Lee  was  the  victor  and  Pope  was  forced  to  lead  his 
army  from  Virginia. 

As  there  were  no  longer  any  Federal  troops  in  Virginia 
to  threaten  Richmond,  Lee  made  up  his  mind  to  lead 
his  army  into  Maryland.  On  this  march  into  Maryland, 
Lee  gave  his  soldiers  strict  orders  not  to  take  anything 
from  the  people  without  paying  for  it.  But  some  of 
the  hungry  men  did  not  obey  this  order.  Lee  himself 
caught  a  soldier  with  a  squealing  pig  in  his  arms.  The 
man  was  going  to  have  a  good  dinner  of  pork.  Lee 
arrested  him,  and  as  he  was  one  of  Jackson's  soldiers, 


i44  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Lee  sent  him  to  that  general  with  orders  that  he  be  shot 
at  once  for  disobedience.  But  Jackson  thought  the  army 
was  already  too  small,  and  so  after  holding  the  soldier 
as  a  prisoner  for  a  time,  he  released  him  and  afterwards 
pardoned  him  for  bravery  at  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg. 

McClellan  had  again  been  put  in  command  of  the 
army  of  the  Potomac  and  ordered  to  check  General  Lee. 
One  of  Lee's  marching  orders  was  used  by  someone  to 
wrap  a  handful  of  cigars.  This  little  bundle  was  lost. 
A  Federal  soldier  found  it  and  carried  it  to  McClellan, 
who  learned  from  it  that  General  Lee  had  divided  his 
army  into  two  parts.  McClellan  decided  that  he 
would  get  in  between  these  two  divisions  of  Lee's  army 
and  crush  them  out  one  at  a  time.  However,  he  was 
checked  in  this  by  one  of  Lee's  generals,  D.  H.  Hill,  at 
Boonesboro.  It  was  at  about  this  time  that  Jackson 
captured  a  large  quantity  of  arms  and  provisions  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  then  with  his  "foot  cavalry"  joined 
Lee  in  time  for  the  next  great  fight. 

On  the  17th  of  September,  McClellan,  with  a  large 
fresh  army,  opened  an  attack  on  Lee  at  Sharpsburg, 
where  a  most  bloody  battle  was  fought.  Lee  had  less 
than  half  as  many  men  as  McClellan.  But  the  Con- 
federates stood  their  ground.  All  day  long  the  battle 
raged  fiercely  to  and  fro  along  the  lines. 

During  the  fighting,  Jackson  sent  to  Lee  for  orders. 
As  Lee  had  the  utmost  confidence  in  General  Jackson's 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL    (1861-1862)         145 

ability,  he  sent  him  back  this  message,  "  Go,  tell  General 
Jackson  that  he  knows  as  well  what  to  do  as  I."  This 
was  a  very  great  compliment.  On  the  other  hand, 
Jackson  once  said,  "Lee  is  a  phenomenon.  He  is  the 
only  man  I  could  follow  blindfold." 

General  Lee's  son,  Robert,  was  in  this  battle.  The 
battery  of  big  guns  that  Robert  helped  to  manage  made 
a  fierce  charge  and  was  driven  back.  The  battery  was 
badly  torn  up  and  almost  disabled  but  Lee  ordered  it 
back  into  action.  Robert  passed  near  his  father  and 
asked,  "General,  are  you  going  to  send  us  in  again?" 
"  Yes,  my  son,"  Lee  replied  with  a  smile.  "  You  all  must 
do  what  you  can  to  drive  these  people  back."  Robert 
went  in  as  he  was  ordered  and  came  out  safe  and  sound. 

The  soldiers  of  both  armies  fought  bravely,  and  there 
were  many  heroic  deeds  that  day,  but  at  nightfall, 
neither  side  had  won  the  victory,  and  both  armies 
camped  on  the  field.  Lee  called  his  generals  to  a  coun- 
cil of  war.  Some  of  them  urged  him  to  recross  the  Po- 
tomac at  once  and  retreat  into  Virginia.  Lee  listened 
to  them  patiently,  but  as  he  did  not  think  it  best  to  fall 
back  yet,  he  would  not  agree  with  them.  When  they 
continued  pressing  him  to  retreat,  he  at  last  raised  him- 
self in  his  stirrups  and  said,  "Gentlemen,  we  will  not 
cross  the  Potomac  to-night.  If  McClellan  wants  to 
fight  in  the  morning,  I  will  give  him  battle  again." 
True  to  his  word  he  waited  all  that  night  and  the  next 

TWO  GREAT  SOUTHERNERS  —  IO 


146  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

day  for  an  attack,  but  as  it  did  not  come  and  as  McClel- 
lan  was  largely  reenforced,  Lee  led  his  army  back  into 
Virginia,  it  is  said,  without  the  loss  of  a  gun  or  a  wagon. 
He  now  recruited  his  army  and  gave  many  of  his  soldiers 
new  guns  and  ammunition  that  Jackson  had  taken  at 
Harper's  Ferry. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg,  Lee  heard  that 
his  daughter  Anna  was  dead.  His  grief  was  very  great, 
for  she  had  been  his  dearest  child.  But  he  wrote  thus 
in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Lee,  "  God  in  this  as  in  all  things  has 
mingled  mercy  with  the  blow  by  selecting  the  one  best 
prepared  to  go.  May  you  join  me  in  saying,  His  will 
be  done  !" 

The  Federal  army  was  now  put  under  the  command  of 
General  Burnside.  He  brought  the  army  back  to  Vir- 
ginia and  made  an  attempt  to  reach  the  Southern  capi- 
tal by  way  of  Fredericksburg,  a  town  north  of  Rich- 
mond, on  the  Rappahannock  River.  Burnside  posted 
his  men  on  Stafford  Heights  and  on  a  large  plain.  Lee 
placed  his  men  on  Marye's  Heights,  which  elevated 
them  above  Burnside's  army. 

The  battle  began  at  daylight  on  December  13.  Burn- 
side's  blue  lines  charged  up  Marye's  Heights  six  times, 
but  they  had  little  chance,  as  Lee's  men  poured  their 
fire  on  them  from  above  so  fiercely  that  they  could  not 
advance.  There  were  three  hundred  cannons  booming 
at  once,  and  the  noise  was  fearful.     Finding  he  could  not 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL    (1861-1862)  147 

take  these  heights,  Burnside  withdrew  his  men  across 
the  Rappahannock,  leaving  Lee  victor  again. 

The  two  armies  now  went  into  winter  quarters,  facing 
each  other  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  river.  Here  they 
stayed  until  the  spring  of  1863.  An  English  officer,  who 
went  to  visit  Lee,  wrote  this  description  of  Lee's  head- 
quarters during  this  winter,  "Lee's  headquarters,  I 
found,  were  only  seven  or  eight  pole-tents,  with  their 
backs  to  a  stake  fence,  while  a  little  stream  of  good 
water  flowed  close  by.  In  front  of  the  tents  were  three 
wagons,  and  a  number  of  horses  roamed  over  the  fields. 
No  guards  were  seen  near,  and  no  crowd  of  aides 
swarmed  about.  A  large  farmhouse  stood  close  by, 
which  would  have  made  a  good  home  for  the  general, 
but  Lee  does  not  let  his  men  rob  or  disturb  the  people, 
and  likes  to  set  them  a  good  example."  This  camp  was 
in  the  edge  of  an  old  pine  field,  and  it  was  here  that 
Lee  spent  the  winter,  planning  the  war  for  the  next 
year  and  getting  ready. 

During  this  winter,  some  friend  gave  Lee  several 
chickens.  Among  them  was  a  fine,  large  hen.  She 
soon  had  made  herself  a  nest  in  the  general's  tent,  where 
she  laid  an  egg  before  Bryan,  Lee's  Irish  cook,  had  the 
chance  to  take  her  head  off.  So  Bryan  saved  her,  and 
each  day  Lee  would  leave  the  door  of  his  tent  open  for 
her.  This  hen  roosted  and  rode  on  one  of  the  wagons 
and  went  with  the  army  for  about  three  years.     She 


148  ROBERT  E..  LEE 

saw  several  battles.  But  at  last  when  food  began  to  be 
very  scarce,  and  when  Lee  was  to  have  company,  one 
day  Bryan  served  her  up  in  grand  style.  Lee  thought 
the  fowl  was  fine  at  dinner,  but  he  did  not  suspect  that 
he  was  eating  his  pet  hen. 

The  time  had  at  last  come  to  free  Mr.  Custis's  slaves, 
as  he  had  directed  in  his  will.  Lee  wrote  out  papers, 
setting  them  all  free.  He  wrote  that  he  hoped  they 
would  all  be  prosperous  and  happy.  He  had  already 
several  years  before  freed  his  own  slaves. 

General  Lee  had  won  so  many  victories  and  managed 
so  well  that  the  Southern  people  began  to  have  great 
faith  in  him.  His  soldiers  were  "shoeless,  hatless, 
ragged,  and  starving,"  but  they  loved  and  trusted 
"Mars  Robert,"  as  they  now  called  him.  "Mars 
Robert  says  so,"  had  come  to  be  their  battle  cry. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1863) 

One  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  Federal  government 
continued  to  be  the  capture  of  Richmond.  If  that  could 
be  done,  it  was  still  thought  that  the  Confederate  gov- 
ernment would  then  be  easily  destroyed ;  so  renewed 
efforts  were  going  to  be  made  to  take  the  Southern 
capital.     The  Federal  army  was  increased  to  one  hun- 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL    (1863)  149 

dred  and  thirty-two  thousand  men.  General  Joe 
Hooker  was  put  in  command.  He  was  so  good  a  fighter 
that  he  was  sometimes  called  "Fighting  Joe."  He  was 
the  fourth  general  that  had  been  sent  to  conquer  Lee. 
He  strengthened  and  improved  his  army  until  he  thought 
he  had  the  best  one  in  the  world.  Hooker  said  he  was 
sure  he  should  soon  whip  Lee  or  have  him  on  the  run. 

Lee  knew  his  task  during  this  year  would  be  to  keep 
the  Federal  army  away  from  Richmond.  He  did  all 
he  could  to  increase  and  improve  his  forces,  and  was 
able  to  raise  his  number  to  about  fifty-three  thousand 
men,  which  was  a  good  many  less  than  half  of  Hooker's 
army.  There  was  not  enough  food  and  clothes  for  his 
men,  and  this  made  it  very  hard  for  them.  Their  bread, 
made  of  flour  and  water,  was  called  "hard-tack." 
Most  of  Lee's  men  had  not  been  used  to  such  rough  fare 
at  home,  and  some  of  them  would  complain.  General 
Lee  himself  ate  just  what  the  men  ate  and  was  always 
cheerful.  When  he  heard  some  one  complain  of  the 
tough  bread,  he  said,  "You  ought  not  to  mind  that ;  it 
will  last  longer."  And  so  in  the  face  of  all  these  diffi- 
culties, Lee  continued  to  make  preparations  for  the  war. 
He  watched  Hooker  during  the  spring  and  found  out 
his  plans. 

The  last  of  April,  General  Hooker  sent  a  part  of  his 
army  to  attack  Lee  at  Fredericksburg.  He  did  this  to 
deceive  Lee  and  make  him  think  this  was  the  main 


150  ROBERT   E.    LEE 

attack,  while  he  was  leading  the  greater  part  of  his  army 
around  to  attack  Lee  in  the  rear.  He  meant  to  get 
Lee's  army  hemmed  in  on  both  sides  and  then  destroy 
it  completely. 

But  as  Lee  knew  Hooker's  plans  pretty  well,  he  was 
not  so  easy  to  fool.  Hooker  led  the  main  division  of  his 
army  to  Chancellorsville,  from  which  place  he  meant  to 
attack  Lee's  rear.  But  Lee  left  a  part  of  his  army  at 
Fredericksburg  to  meet  the  attack  there,  while  he  sent 
another  division  under  Stonewall  Jackson  to  attack 
Hooker's  rear.  Lee  was  doing  for  Hooker  just  what 
Hooker  was  planning  to  do  for  Lee. 

Chancellorsville  was  a  plantation  settlement  in  the 
midst  of  a  thick  forest  growth  of  trees,  bushes,  and  vines, 
that  was  called  "the  Wilderness."  It  was  in  Hooker's 
camps  here  that  Jackson  fell  upon  his  army  so  suddenly. 
Jackson's  troops  rushed  upon  Hooker's  men  like  a 
cyclone  and  swept  them  from  their  breastworks.  The 
fighting  was  kept  up  till  May  4.  By  the  morning  of 
May  3,  Lee  had  driven  the  greater  part  of  the  Federals 
to  intrenchments  near  the  Rappahannock  River.  His 
men  were  very  weary,  but  he  was  preparing  to  attack 
them  here  in  their  works,  when  he  heard  that  another 
division  of  Federals  had  taken  Fredericksburg.  So  he 
went  to  help  General  Early  who  was  defending  this 
town.  Together  Lee  and  Early  forced  the  Federals 
across  the  river  to  the  north.     Lee  now  went  back  to 


THE    CONFEDERATE    GENERAL    (1863)  151 

attack  Hooker,  but  found  that  Fighting  Joe  had  led  his 
men  across  to  the  north  side  of  the  river  the  night  before. 
Thus  this  was  another  great  victory  for  General  Lee. 

During  this  battle,  through  a  mistake,  Stonewall 
Jackson  was  shot  by  his  own  men.  Two  bullets  had 
pierced  his  left  arm,  and  it  had  to  be  cut  off.  He  lived 
until  May  10.  His  death  was  a  great  grief  to  Lee,  for 
the  two  commanders  loved  and  trusted  each  other  very 
much.  While  Jackson  lay  suffering,  he  heard  that 
Chancellorsville  was  a  victory  for  the  Southern  army. 
He  sent  to  congratulate  Lee.  General  Lee  knew  how 
much  of  the  battle  had  been  planned  and  fought  by 
Jackson,  so  he  sent  this  message,  "Say  to  General 
Jackson  that  the  victory  is  his."  Once  it  was  reported 
that  Jackson  was  better.  Then  Lee  playfully  sent  him 
word,  "You  are  better  off  than  I  am,  for  while  you 
have  only  lost  your  left,  I  have  lost  my  right  arm." 
By  this  Lee  meant  that  Jackson  was  as  great  help  to 
him  as  his  own  right  arm.  When  Jackson  died,  Lee 
said  any  victory  was  a  dear  one  that  deprived  the 
army  of  Jackson. 

Once  more,  as  there  was  no  Federal  army  in  Virginia, 
Lee  thought  the  best  way  to  keep  one  out  would  be  to 
lead  his  own  army  into  the  North  again.  Besides, 
clothes  and  provisions  were  now  very  hard  to  obtain 
at  the  South.  By  leading  his  army  into  the  North,  Lee 
hoped  to  secure  supplies  for  his  men.     On  the  march, 


152  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

the  supplies  needed  were  taken  in  an  orderly  way  by  the 
army  quartermaster  and  commissaries.  In  this  way, 
food,  clothes,  horses,  and  whatever  else  was  necessary 
were  taken.  Whenever  asked,  receipts  were  given  for 
what  was  taken,  and  the  Federal  government,  in  many 
cases,  paid  Pennsylvania  citizens  these  claims  after  the 
war.  Lee  ordered  all  the  officers  and  soldiers  not  to  do 
any  needless  injury  against  private  property,  saying 
to  them,  "It  must  be  remembered  that  we  make  war 
only  on  armed  men,  and  not  on  women  and  children  and 
private  property."  It  is  said  that  these  orders  were 
very  carefully  obeyed.  An  English  officer  who  was 
along  later  wrote,  "I  saw  no  straggling  into  the  houses, 
nor  were  any  of  the  inhabitants  disturbed  or  annoyed 
by  the  soldiers." 

To  make  this  march  into  Pennsylvania,  Lee  separated 
his  army  into  three  divisions.  At  Washington,  it  was 
reported  to  President  Lincoln  that  the  head  of  Lee's 
army  was  at  Martinsburg  and  the  rear  of  it  between 
Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  stretched  out  like 
some  long,  winding  dragon.  Lincoln  wrote  Hooker  that 
if  it  was  stretched  out  in  that  manner,  "The  animal 
must  be  slim  somewhere  —  could  you  not  break  him  ?  " 
But  Hooker  soon  gave  up  the  command  of  the  army, 
and  it  was  left  to  General  George  G.  Meade,  his  suc- 
cessor, to  fight  the  "animal"  at  Gettysburg. 

General  Meade  had  orders  to  meet  and  fight  Lee,  but 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL    (1863)  153 

to  manage  always  to  keep  his  army  between  Lee  and 
Washington  City,  which  it  was  thought  Lee  meant  to 
attack. 

Neither  commander  intended  to  have  a  battle  at 
Gettysburg,  but  quite  by  accident,  on  July  1,  one  divi- 
sion of  Lee's  army  met  the  Federal  forces  at  this  place. 
General  Lee  soon  came  up  and  ordered  that  the  strong 
position  of  the  Federals  on  Cemetery  Hill  be  taken. 
But  this  was  not  done,  and  the  fighting  ended  till  next 
day. 

General  Lee  ordered  an  attack  to  be  made  on  the 
Federals  in  the  early  morning  of  the  second  of  July.  But 
for  some  reason  it  was  not  made  till  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.  By  that  time,  General  Meade  had  brought 
up  all  his  forces,  and  though  Lee's  men  fought  bravely 
and  gained  some  ground,  they  were  not  able  to  drive  the 
Federals  from  their  position.  When  night  put  an  end 
to  the  second  day's  battle,  the  Union  army  still  held  its 
own. 

Lee,  still  hoping  the  victory  might  be  won  by  an  early 
morning  attack,  gave  orders  that  an  advance  be  made  on 
Meade's  works  at  daybreak  of  the  third.  But  again  his 
orders  were  not  obeyed.  The  attack  for  the  day  was  not 
begun  until  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Then  a  most 
furious  artillery  battle  commenced.  It  lasted  for  about 
an  hour,  when  the  powder  of  the  Confederates  was 
nearly  gone. 


154  ROBERT    E.    LEE 

During  this  dreadful  battle,  General  Lee  was  one 
of  the  coolest  and  calmest  of  men.  He  saw  an  officer 
whipping  his  horse,  which  had  become  badly  frightened 
at  the  booming  and  screeching  of  shot  and  shell.  "Don't 
whip  him,  Captain,"  Lee  said,  "don't  whip  him.  I've 
got  just  such  a  foolish  horse  myself,  and  whipping  does 
no  good." 

Whenever  he  saw  badly  wounded  men,  he  had  every- 
thing possible  done  for  their  comfort,  but  to  the  slightly 
wounded,  he  would  say,  "Come,  bind  up  your  wound 
and  take  a  musket,  my  friend."  He  never  forgot  to  add 
"my  friend."  His  face  was  calm  and  showed  no  sign 
of  worry  and  care.  He  was  trying  to  encourage  every 
soldier,  saying  cheerfully,  "All  this  will  come  out  right 
in  the  end ;  we  will  talk  it  over  afterwards  ;  but,  mean- 
while, all  good  men  must  rally. ' '  Many  of  the  wounded, 
as  they  were  carried  to  the  rear,  took  off  their  hats  and 
cheered  him. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  day,  there  came  the  famous 
"Pickett's  Charge."  General  Pickett,  with  his  own 
men  and  the  divisions  of  Pettigrew  and  Pender,  ad- 
vanced to  storm  the  breastworks  of  the  Federals  on 
Cemetery  Ridge.  When  he  had  nearly  reached  the  blue 
lines,  the  Union  artillery  poured  such  a  fire  upon  the 
Confederate  ranks  that  they  were  mowed  away  by 
hundreds.  For  want  of  powder,  Lee's  guns  could  not 
reply.     But  still  the  Confederates  moved  forward.     As 


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156  ROBERT   E.    LEE 

one  man  fell,  another  stepped  into  his  place,  and  thus 
the.  ranks  were  closed.  On  and  on  they  went  until  a 
part  of  the  Federal  lines  was  seized.  Lee  had  com- 
manded that  help  be  brought  to  Pickett,  but  again 
some  one  failed  to  obey  orders,  and  so  the  brave  fellows 
were  forced  to  fall  back,  leaving  Gettysburg  a  Federal 
victory. 

As  Pickett  returned  from  the  charge,  Lee  met  him  and 
said,  "  It's  all  my  fault,  and  you  must  help  me  out  of  it 
the  best  you  can."  Lee  knew  his  orders  had  not  been 
obeyed,  but  he  was  too  kind  and  considerate  of  the 
feelings  of  his  officers  to  lay  the  blame  on  any  of  them. 
In  this  fight  he  sorely  missed  his  "right  arm,"  and  once 
said,  "Had  I  had  Jackson  at  Gettysburg,  I  should,  so  far 
as  man  can  judge,  have  won  that  battle." 

Lee  camped  on  the  field  for  the  night.  To  one  of  his 
officers  he  said,  "This  has  been  a  sad  day  for  us,  Colonel, 
a  sad  day,  but  we  can't  expect  always  to  gain  victories." 
He  waited  the  next  day  for  Meade  to  attack  him,  and 
then  he  started  on  his  march  back  into  Virginia.  Heavy 
rains  had  now  set  in,  and  so,  when  the  army  reached  the 
Potomac,  the  water  was  too  high  to  be  crossed  easily. 
So  General  Lee  sent  his  wounded  across  in  boats.  He 
then  got  ready  to  fight  Meade,  who  was  following  him. 
But  the  Union  general  did  not  come  up  for  a  battle,  and 
Lee's  army  was  soon  safe  in  Virginia  again. 

Lee  now  offered  to  President  Davis  to  give  up  his  com- 


THE   CONFEDERATE    GENERAL    (1863)  157 

mand  in  the  army.  He  said  that  he  was  getting  old  and 
that  he  was  not  strong.  He  said  he  thought  a  younger 
and  abler  man  should  be  appointed  to  be  at  the  head  of 
the  army.  Lee  declared  he  could  not  carry  out  what  he 
himself  wished,  and  much  less  could  he  do  what  others 
expected  of  him.  In  his  reply,  Davis  refused  to  relieve 
Lee  of  his  command,  asking,  "Where  am  I  to  find  a 
stronger  and  abler  man?"  Davis  said  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  find  a  man  more  fit  to  command  than  Lee 
and  one  who  would  have  more  of  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  He  said  further  that  the  deeds  of  Lee  and  his 
army  would  be  the  subject  of  history  and  the  objects 
of  the  world's  admiration  for  ages  to  come.  Lee  there- 
fore kept  the  command.  From  this  may  be  seen  how 
these  two  men  trusted  and  honored  each  other. 

It  was  harder  now  than  ever  to  get  food  and  clothes 
for  the  army.  Mrs.  Lee  and  her  three  daughters  spent 
most  of  their  time  knitting  socks  for  the  soldiers.  In 
October  of  this  year,  General  Lee  wrote  his  wife,  "I  am 
glad  you  have  some  socks  for  the  army.  Send  them  to 
me.  Tell  the  girls  to  send  all  they  can.  I  wish  they 
could  make  some  shoes.  We  have  thousands  of  bare- 
footed men."  Is  it  any  wonder  the  soldiers  loved 
Lee  and  called  him  "Mars  Robert"  and  "Uncle 
Robert"? 

About  this  time,  the  city  of  Richmond  gave  Lee  a 
house.     In  a  kind  manner,  he  refused  it,  and  begged 


158  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

that  what  money  the  city  could  spare  be  used  in  help- 
ing the  families  of  his  poor  and  wounded  soldiers. 
The  rest  of  the  year  passed  with  very  little  fighting. 

CHAPTER  X 

THE   CONFEDERATE    GENERAL    (1864-1865) 

When  the  campaign  of  1864  began,  it  was  still  Lee's 
duty  to  defend  Richmond.  This  had  become  a  very 
difficult  task,  for  Lee  had  now  not  more  than  sixty-two 
thousand  men  in  all,  and  it  was  impossible  to  get  food 
and  clothes  for  even  these. 

Another  man  now  came  to  conquer  Lee.  This  was 
General  U.  S.  Grant,  who  had  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  men,  plenty  of  food  and  clothes  for  them, 
and  a  wagon  train  sixty-five  miles  long. 

With  the  beginning  of  spring,  Grant  led  his  hosts  into 
Virginia.  Time  and  again  he  tried  to  march  around 
Lee's  army,  or  did  his  best  to  beat  it  out  of  the  way,  in 
order  to  get  to  Richmond.  In  making  these  efforts,  the 
armies  often  met,  and  at  such  times  manv  fierce  battles 
were  fought. 

On  May  4,  Grant  tried  to  get  past  Lee.  While  the 
Federals  knew  little  of  the  country,  Lee  was  acquainted 
with  nearly  every  foot  of  it.  Grant  did  not  have  to 
hunt  Lee,  for  Lee  went  to  meet  him.  Both  armies 
plunged  into  the  Wilderness,  and  the  next  day  they 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL   (1864- 1865)        159 

met  in  its  dense  growth  of  bushes,  trees,  and  vines. 
The  men  could  scarcely  see  each  other,  even  a  few  yards 
away.  It  was  a  bad  place  for  a  battle,  and  the  big  guns 
and  cavalry  could  hardly  be  used  at  all. 

Lee's  army  was  soon  attacked  by  the  Federals,  who 
came  on  in  full  force.  Just  at  this  time,  General  Long- 
street  came  up  with  his  men  to  help  Lee  drive  them 
back.  Lee  saw  that  some  of  the  first  regiments  of 
Longstreet's  divisions  were  Texas  soldiers.  "Hurrah 
for  Texas  !  Hurrah  for  Texas  ! "  he  shouted,  and  at  once 
rode  at  the  head  of  their  column  and  gave  the  command, 
"Charge."  But  they  would  not  go  forward  a  step,  for 
they  loved  Lee  and  feared  that  he  might  be  hurt  in  a 
charge.  So  they  began  to  call  out,  "Lee  to  the  rear  ! 
Lee  to  the  rear !  General,  if  you  do  not  go  back,  we 
will  not  go  forward."  At  last  a  gray-haired  old  sergeant 
laid  hold  of  Lee's  bridle  rein  and  led  him  away  out  of 
danger.  These  brave  soldiers  then  charged  and  checked 
the  advance  of  the  Union  men. 

This  was  probably  one  of  the  most  dreadful  battles  of 
the  whole  war.  It  raged  for  two  days,  and  then  the 
thick  tangled  woods  took  fire  and  began  to  burn.  As 
the  men  still  lay  wherever  they  had  fallen  in  the  fight, 
hundreds  of  them  were  burned.  Despite  all,  Lee 
pressed  his  army  forward  and  checked  Grant.  Both 
armies  camped  on  the  field  for  the  night,  and  then  lay 
watching  each  other  all  the  next  day. 


160  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

When  the  night  of  the  7th  came,  Grant  marched  away 
to  Spottsylvania  Courthouse,  meaning  to  steal  around 
and  past  Lee's  lines  to  Richmond.  But  Lee  found  out 
this  plan,  and  so  he  too  began  a  march  for  the  same 
place.  When  Grant's  men  reached  the  courthouse  next 
morning,  Lee's  men  were  there  behind  breastworks, 
waiting  for  them.  Thus  Lee  had  saved  Richmond  once 
more. 

Then  there  was  fighting  between  the  two  armies  nearly 
all  the  time  for  about  twelve  days.  Grant  was  doing 
his  best  to  break  through  Lee's  lines.  At  one  place 
Lee's  breastworks  extended  outward  in  a  point.  In  one 
of  Grant's  attacks,  this  point  was  taken  by  the  Federals 
after  a  very  hard  fight.  So  many  men  were  killed  here 
that  it  was  called  the  "Bloody  Angle."  During  the 
fight  musket  balls  flew  so  thick  that  they  cut  down  stout 
oak  trees.  Though  Grant  had  taken  the  Bloody  Angle, 
he  could  not  break  through  Lee's  lines  in  any  other  place. 

In  this  battle,  Lee  again  rode  to  the  front  to  lead  a 
charge.  But  General  John  B.  Gordon  told  Lee  the 
men  were  Virginians  and  Georgians,  who  had  never 
failed,  and  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  Lee  so  to  expose 
himself.  These  soldiers,  like  the  others  we  have  already 
heard  about,  agreed  to  go  forward  if  Lee  would  go  to 
the  rear.  This  Lee  did  and  the  men  nobly  kept  their 
promise.  General  Lee  often  went  into  dangerous  places, 
and  often  wished  to  lead  charges.     But  his  men  and 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1864-1865)    161 

officers  would  never  allow  him  to  do  so  if  they  could  pre- 
vent it.  They  said  the  place  of  danger  was  no  place  for 
him.  He  was  told  this  so  often  that  at  last  he  said,  "I 
wish  I  knew  where  my  place  is  on  the  battlefield.  Wher- 
ever I  go,  some  one  tells  me  it  is  not  the  place  for  me." 

On  the  night  of  May  20,  Grant  again  tried  to  steal 
past  Lee's  lines  to  Richmond.  But  again  Lee  was  too 
quick  for  him,  and  hurried  his  own  men  into  place  so 
rapidly  that  Grant  was  faced  and  checked.  However,  a 
great  deal  of  hard  fighting  followed.  Grant's  army  in 
lines  six  miles  long  attacked  Lee's  ranks,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  breaking  through  them,  for  Lee's  men  fought 
so  fiercely  that  Grant  lost  twelve  thousand  of  his  sol- 
diers in  less  than  a  half  hour,  and  his  men  finallv  refused 
to  attack  the  Confederates  at  all.  This  is  called  the 
Second  Battle  of  Cold  Harbor. 

Grant  then  moved  his  army  around  to  the  south  of 
Richmond,  and  attempted  to  capture  Petersburg,  hop- 
ing thus  to  cut  Richmond  off  from  the  South  as  well 
as  to  take  the  capital  itself.  This  caused  Lee  now  to 
have  to  defend  Petersburg  and  Richmond  with  lines 
only  thirty-five  miles  long,  against  Grant  who  had  an 
army  more  than  twice  as  large  as  his  own.  Lee's  men 
were  now  pretty  hungry  most  of  the  time,  as  they  got 
only  one  quarter  of  a  pound  of  meat  and  one  pound  of 
flour  each  day.  Lee  with  his  men,  hungry  and  ill-clad 
as  they  were,  kept  Grant  from  taking  Petersburg,  but 

TWO    GREAT    SOUTHERNERS  II 


162  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

in  spite  of  all,  one  of  the  railroads  leading  into  Rich- 
mond from  the  South  was  taken.  Lee  spent  a  great 
part  of  the  rest  of  this  year  in  several  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  retake  this  railroad.  Besides  this  he  had 
to  meet  one  attack  after  another  from  Grant's  hosts. 

Finally  the  Confederate  army  went  into  winter  quar- 
ters in  the  trenches  around  Richmond  and  Petersburg. 
Lee  often  went  into  the  trenches  himself  to  see  how  his 
men  were  faring. 

One  cold  morning  during  this  winter,  on  the  train  from 
Richmond  to  Petersburg,  a  young  soldier  whose  arm 
was  in  a  sling,  was  seen  trying  to  put  on  his  overcoat. 
His  efforts  seemed  very  painful,  and  he  was  after  all 
about  to  fail.  Then  one  of  the  officers  that  happened 
to  be  on  the  train  rose  from  his  seat  and  went  to  help  the 
young  man.  Tenderly  and  carefully  he  drew  the  coat 
over  the  wounded  arm,  and  then  with  a  few  kind  words, 
this  officer  went  quietly  back  to  his  seat.  The  officer 
was  dressed  in  a  plain  suit  of  gray  and  wore  no  other 
sign  of  rank  than  three  gilt  stars  on  his  collar,  but  he 
was  none  other  than  General  Lee. 

Here  is  another  story  that  is  told  of  Lee's  kindness 
and  tenderness  of  heart.  During  the  summer  of  1864, 
while  he  was  defending  Richmond,  Lee  and  some  of  his 
men  were  standing  in  front  of  a  house.  This  fact 
drew  upon  them  a  heavy  fire  from  the  Federals.  Lee 
said  to  those  with  him,  "Men,  you  had  better  go  into 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1864-1865)    163 

the  back  yard ;  they  are  firing  up  here  and  you  might 
get  hurt."  The  men  unwillingly  obeyed,  and  looking 
back,  they  saw  the  general  walk  across  the  yard  and  pick 
up  something  and  place  it  in  a  tree  above  his  head. 
They  looked  carefully  and  found  that  the  object  for 
which  he  had  risked  his  life  was  a  young  bird  that  had 
fallen  from  its  nest. 

During  this  winter,  Lee  was  one  day  riding  with  his 
staff  along  the  lines,  when  he  saw  a  minister  giving  away 
religious  tracts  to  the  men  in  the  trenches.  He  was 
reminded  by  this  that  he  had  a  dozen  new  prayer  books 
that  he  could  give  to  some  of  the  men.  Some  time 
before  this,  Lee  had  told  a  friend  in  Richmond  that  he 
had  bought  himself  a  new  prayer  book  and  was  going  to 
give  his  old  one  to  some  soldier.  The  friend  thought  he 
would  like  to  own  the  prayer  book  that  Lee  had  carried 
ever  since  the  Mexican  War,  so  he  offered  to  give  Lee 
twelve  new  ones  for  the  old  one.  Lee  made  this  trade, 
and  thus  he  now  had  a  dozen  prayer  books  to  give  to  the 
soldiers.  The  minister  said  he  would  be  glad  to  have 
them  for  the  men.  On  the  flyleaf  of  each  book,  Lee 
wrote  "Presented  by  R.  E.  Lee."  You  may  be  sure 
these  books  were  much  prized  by  those  who  received 
them. 

As  the  spring  of  1865  came  on,  Lee  began  to  feel  that 
with  his  small  force,  he  could  not  much  longer  hold 
Richmond  and  Petersburg  against  the  immense  army 


LEE    AND    THE    BIRD 
164 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1864-1865)    165 

of  the  Federals.  General  Grant  had  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  well-armed,  well-fed,  well-clad  soldiers. 
Lee  had  only  about  thirty-five  thousand  men  in  rags  and 
tatters  with  almost  nothing  to  eat.  There  was  little 
chance  to  get  food  and  clothes  for  Lee's  army,  and  less 
hope  that  more  men  would  join  it,  for  there  were  no 
more  men  in  the  South  to  enter  the  army. 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  General  Lee  made  up  his  mind 
that  the  only  hope  of  keeping  up  the  struggle  with 
success  would  be  to  give  up  Richmond,  and  to  lead  his 
army  to  North  Carolina,  where  he  could  unite  it 
with  that  of  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  There  was 
a  road  leading  out  from  Richmond  which  was  the  most 
direct  route  to  North  Carolina.  This  Lee  wished  to 
follow  while  making  the  retreat  he  now  planned.  Gen- 
eral Grant  must  have  known  what  Lee  intended  to 
do,  for  he  had  this  road  strongly  guarded  by  General 
Sheridan.  Lee  sent  General  Fitz  Lee's  cavalry  and 
Pickett's  division  of  infantry  to  drive  Sheridan  back. 
But  reinforcements  came  to  Sheridan,  and  the  next 
day  at  Five  Forks,  he  attacked  the  Confederates  and 
forced  them  away.  This  was  one  of  the  things  the 
Federals  had  been  trying  to  do  all  the  time,  for  at  last 
by  these  movements  a  Federal  army  had  succeeded 
in  getting  in  Lee's  rear. 

On  the  night  of  April  2,  Lee  led  his  remnant  of  an  army 
away  from  Petersburg,  thus,  after  nearly  four  years, 


1 66  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

giving  up  Richmond.  He  marched  toward  Amelia 
Courthouse,  where  he  had  ordered  provisions  to  be 
sent  for  his  army.  By  mistake  the  provisions  were  sent 
to  Richmond.  In  this  way  it  happened  that  when  Lee 
reached  Amelia,  his  men  were  entirely  without  food. 
Lee  was  therefore  now  forced  to  spend  a  day  in  collect- 
ing supplies  from  the  country  about,  and  this  delay  gave 
Grant  time  to  draw  his  men  still  closer  about  Lee. 
However,  the  march  was  taken  up  again  the  next  day. 
As  there  now  came  on  very  heavy  rains,  the  roads  were 
almost  impassable  and  the  streams  were  swollen.  The 
wagon  train  ahead  was  dragging  itself  but  slowly,  while 
the  troops  behind  were  compelled  now  and  then  to  halt 
to  beat  off  Grant's  men.  The  main  body  of  the  army 
pressed  forward  with  Lee,  but  still  a  great  many  of  the 
men  were  captured. .  The  Confederates  had  very  little 
to  eat,  in  fact  almost  nothing  but  parched  corn,  which 
they  ate  as  they  trudged  along  through  the  rain  and 
mud.  Many  sank  by  the  roadside,  weary  and  faint 
with  hunger,  yet  no  murmur  of  complaint  was  heard. 

Lee  knew  that  his  sick  wife  and  his  daughters  at 
Richmond  were  in  the  midst  of  danger,  and  were  per- 
haps being  forced  to  escape  from  a  ruined  and  troubled 
city.  But  under  all  these  difficulties  and  annoyances 
his  courage  seemed  to  rise  greater  and  nobler  than 
ever.  Wherever  he  came,  his  presence  filled  the  weary, 
hungry  men  with  renewed  energy  to  keep  up  the  toil- 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL   (1864-1865)        167 

some  march.  During  these  trying  scenes,  his  counte- 
nance wore  its  usual  calm,  grave  expression.  Those 
who  watched  his  face  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  what  was 
passing  in  his  mind  could  gather  from  it  no  trace  of  his 
inner  feelings. 

On  this  march,  as  all  through  the  war,  General  Lee 
usually  slept  in  his  tent  or  in  his  wagon.  He  knew  a 
great  many  people  along  the  routes  all  over  Virginia, 
but  he  feared  if  he  stopped  to  stay  over  night  with  them, 
they  would  take  the  trouble  to  make  extra  preparations 
for  him. 

As  many  of  his  officers  now  thought  it  would  be 
impossible  for  the  army  to  escape,  they  made  up  their 
minds  that  it  would  be  best  to  surrender  it  to  General 
Grant.  They  thought  they  would  try  to  free  General 
Lee  from  the  surrendering  and  take  the  blame  upon 
themselves,  and  thus  they  would  soften  the  pangs  of 
defeat  for  him.  So  one  of  these  officers  suggested  to 
Lee  that  they  begin  to  make  plans  for  surrender.  Lee 
replied,  "We  have  too  many  bold  men  to  think  of  laying 
down  our  arms."  On  April  7,  Grant  himself  sent  a 
message  to  General  Lee,  proposing  a  surrender.  Lee 
replied  that  he  thought  the  emergency  had  not  yet 
arisen.  It  is  said  that  Lee  in  thus  refusing  to  surrender 
was  really  trusting  to  a  bold  front  to  secure  better  terms 
of  surrender. 

When  Lee  reached  the  neighborhood  of  Appomattox 


1 68  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Courthouse,  he  found  that  the  Federals  were  in  front 
of  him  and  that  they  had  already  taken  the  provisions 
meant  for  his  own  army.  By  the  9th  of  April,  there  were 
forty  thousand  Federals  in  front  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand close  behind  Lee's  ten  thousand  men.  The  case 
seemed  almost  hopeless,  but  Lee  gave  the  command,  and 
Gordon  and  Fitzhugh  Lee  led  a  last  attack,  driving  back 
the  Federal  advance.  But  the  heavy  columns  behind 
checked  the  further  progress  of  the  Confederates. 

Some  one  now  urged  that  the  remnant  of  the  army 
of  Northern  Virginia  be  used  for  guerrilla  warfare.  Lee 
replied,  "No,  that  will  not  do.  We  have  fought  this 
fight  as  long  and  as  well  as  we  knew  how.  We  have 
been  defeated.  For  us  as  a  Christian  people,  there  is 
but  one  course  to  pursue.  We  must  accept  the  situa- 
tion. These  men  must  go  home  and  plant  a  crop  and 
we  must  proceed  to  build  up  our  country  on  a  new 
basis." 

Lee  bitterly  hated  the  thought  of  being  defeated  and 
forced  to  surrender,  but  he  did  not  dread  it  enough  to 
let  it  keep  him  from  doing  his  duty.  Once  he  said, 
' '  How  easily  I  could  get  rid  of  this  and  be  at  rest !  I  have 
only  to  ride  along  the  lines  and  all  will  be  over.  But  it 
is  our  duty  to  live  for  the  women  and  children  of  the 
South."  Again  he  said,  "  Human  virtue  should  be  equal 
to  human  calamity."  Some  one  asked  him  what  his- 
tory would  say  of  his  surrender.     "That   is  not   the 


THE   CONFEDERATE   GENERAL    (1864-1865)        169 

question,"  he  replied.  "The  question  is,  Is  it  right? 
If  it  is  right,  I  will  take  all  the  responsibility." 

Lee  always  loved  a  joke.  Even  in  all  the  pain  of 
defeat  and  failure,  he  would  sometimes  have  a  dry  joke. 
On  the  morning  before  the  surrender,  General  Wise,  one 
of  Lee's  officers,  bathed  his  face  in  some  water  that  was 
red  with  mud.  He  had  no  towel,  and  so  when  his  face 
became  dry,  the  mud  had  stuck  on  it  and  left  it  red.  He 
then  came  walking  out  of  his  tent  with  a  large  blanket 
thrown  over  his  shoulders.  Lee  said  to  him  as  he 
approached  the  group  of  officers  in  which  he  was  stand- 
ing, "Good  morning,  General  Wise,  I  see  that  you,  at 
any  rate,  have  not  given  up  the  contest,  as  you  are  in 
your  war  paint  this  morning."  This  caused  a  hearty 
laugh  at  General  Wise  because  he  looked,  indeed,  very 
much  like  an  Indian. 

When  Lee  saw  that  all  hope  of  escape  was  cut  off,  he 
felt  that  it  was  his  duty  to  his  men  to  yield.  Accord- 
ingly he  sent  a  flag  of  truce  and  asked  for  a  meeting  with 
General  Grant  to  discuss  the  terms  of  surrender.  The 
two  commanders  met  at  a  house  near  Appomattox,  on 
April  9.  General  Lee  wore  a  new  uniform  and  had  a 
fine  sword  at  his  side.  He  looked  very  handsome.  He 
showed  his  usual  firmness  and  dignity,  and  there  was  no 
trace  of  bad  temper  on  his  face. 

The  terms  of  surrender  were  soon  agreed  upon  and 
written  out.     The  men  and  officers  were  paroled  on  a 


170  ROBERT   E.    LEE 

pledge  not  to  take  up  arms  again  until  they  should  be 
properly  exchanged.  They  were  allowed  to  retain  their 
side  arms  and  private  property.  General  Grant  said 
the  men  might  need  their  horses  for  the  spring  plowing, 
so  they  were  permitted  to  keep  these  also.  All  other 
property  was  surrendered,  and  the  army  was  to  be  dis- 
banded. Grant  found  out  that  Lee's  men  were  almost 
starving,  and  so  he  at  once  ordered  rations  sent  to  the 
Confederates. 

Grant  afterwards  said,  "  I  felt  like  anything  else  rather 
than  rejoicing  at  the  downfall  of  a  foe  who  had  fought 
so  long  and  valiantly  and  suffered  so  much  for  their 
cause."  A  Confederate  officer  who  was  present  at  the 
meeting  of  these  two  great  soldiers  has  said  that  Grant's 
whole  aim  seemed  to  be  to  soften  for  Lee  the  bitterness 
of  defeat  and  to  soothe  his  feelings  as  far  as  he  could. 
Lee  himself  said  to  some  of  his  officers,  "General  Grant 
has  acted  with  magnanimity." 

When  the  interview  with  Grant  was  over,  Lee  went 
back  to  his  men.  When  they  saw  him,  their  glad  shouts 
of  welcome  soon  died  to  a  sad  silence  as  they  remem- 
bered what  his  mission  had  been.  Then  Lee  with  bared 
head  and  with  tears  flowing  down  his  strong  face  said 
to  them,  "Soldiers,  we  have  fought  through  the  war 
together.  I  have  done  the  best  for  you  I  could.  My 
heart  is  too  full  to  say  more."  He  next  gave  orders  for 
the  disbanding  of  the  army  so  that  the  men  might  go 


THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERAL  (1864-1865)    171 

home.  A  few  hours  later,  he  made  his  last  address  to 
his  brave  soldiers.  He  praised  them  for  what  they  had 
done.  He  urged  them  now  to  go  home  and  work  as 
hard  to  build  up  the  country  as  they  fought  in  the  war. 
"We  must  live  for  our  afflicted  country,"  he  told  them. 

The  soldiers  had  always  loved  "Mars  Robert,"  and 
now  as  they  listened  to  his  last  talk  to  them  their  hearts 
were  sad.  They  remembered  how  good  he  had  always 
been  to  them,  and  how  nobly  he  had  led  them  through  the 
long  struggle.  They  thought  of  his  efforts  to  care  for 
them  and  of  how  his  own  sick  wife  and  his  daughters 
had  helped  to  provide  socks  for  their  bare  feet  and 
clothes  for  their  bodies  during  the  hard  winter  campaign. 
They  knew  he  had  not  made  them  fight  useless  battles, 
but  had  kept  them  out  of  danger  where  he  could.  So 
now  they  crowded  about  him.  Many  shed  tears  at 
the  thought  of  parting  from  Mars  Robert.  Hundreds 
tried  to  reach  him  to  take  his  hand  or  to  touch  him,  or 
even  his  faithful  war  horse,  Traveler. 

Lee  was  overcome  by  the  grief  of  his  veterans,  as  he 
thought  of  how  faithful  to  the  cause  and  how  brave  they 
had  been.  He  remembered  that  they  had  refused  to 
allow  him  to  lead  them  in  charges  where  he  would 
have  been  in  danger.  He  recalled  how  once,  after 
many  hours  of  hard  work  in  the  saddle,  he  had  ridden 
on  ahead  of  his  army.  He  had  stopped  and  lain  down 
by  the  roadside  to  rest  for  a  few  minutes  and  had  fallen 


172  ROBERT  E.    LEE 

asleep.  The  army  came  on  up,  and  when  the  first  of  the 
men  had  seen  him,  not  wishing  to  awaken  him,  they 
passed  the  word  along  the  line,  and  the  whole  army 
marched  past  him  so  quietly  that  his  slumbers  were  not 
disturbed.  He  thought  of  how  uncomplainingly  they 
had  borne  the  hardships  of  war,  and  he  felt  that  they 
were,  "in  their  rags  and  tatters,  ill-clad,  ill-shod,  ill- 
fed,  ill-armed,"  the  flower  of  Southern  manhood. 

And  then  as  he  rode  away  from  among  them,  he  bared 
his  head,  and  bade  them  a  sad  farewell.  He  went  up 
the  road  to  Richmond,  and  his  heart  was  touched  to 
find  how  proud  were  the  people  to  see  him,  and  how 
gladly  they  gave  him  of  what  little  they  had  left  to  eat. 
He  said,  "These  people  are  kind  —  too  kind.  They 
do  too  much  —  more  than  they  are  able  to  do  —  for  us." 
Now,  you  must  remember  this  was  in  Virginia,  in  a 
section  where  war  had  left  the  people  almost  nothing. 
He  stopped  to  spend  one  night  at  a  house.  The  poor 
woman  offered  him  a  bed,  but  he  spread  his  blanket  on 
the  floor  and  slept.  He  could  not  give  up  being  a  sol- 
dier all  at  once.  At  another  house,  he  stopped  for  the 
night,  but  when  bedtime  came,  he  spread  his  blanket 
in  his  old  army  wagon  and  spent  the  night  there. 

When  he  reached  the  outskirts  of  Richmond,  it  was 
quickly  known  to  the  people  that  General  Lee  would  soon 
be  among  them.  Hundreds  of  sad,  silent  people  with 
bared  heads  gathered  along  the  route  that  he  must  take 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  173 

to  reach  his  home.  He  was  returning,  not  as  a  trium- 
phant conqueror,  but  a  murmur  of  approval  of  his  noble 
courage  and  self-sacrifice  ran  through  the  crowd.  He 
took  off  his  hat,  bowed  his  head,  and  rode  quietly  past 
them  to  his  house.  He  was  never  again  seen  in  war 
harness. 

Lee  had  now  been  following  the  business  of  war  for 
nearly  forty  years.  He  had  fought  as  well  and  as  long 
as  he  could  in  the  Civil  War.  At  last  it  was  over  and 
he  could  now  rest  for  a  time. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    COLLEGE   PRESIDENT 

After  wishing  for  so  long  to  be  a  private  citizen,  Lee 
now  thought  he  was  at  last  to  have  his  desire.  In  July, 
1865,  he  wrote  to  one  of  his  sons,  "  If  I  am  not  prevented 
by  the  Federal  authorities,  I  shall  try  to  get  to  some  quiet 
place  to  settle  and  live  happy."  He  also  said,  "I  am 
looking  for  a  quiet  little  house  in  the  woods,  where  I 
can  procure  shelter  and  my  daily  bread."  As  General 
Grant  had  pledged  his  honor  for  the  safety  of  General 
Lee,  he  was  not  troubled  by  the  Federal  government 
for  the  part  he  had  taken  in  the  war. 

While  living  in  Richmond,  Lee  was  visited  by  a  great 
many  people.     Every  comer  to  the  city  wished  to  look 


174  ROBERT  E.    LEE 

upon  the  great  commander.  Many  people  offered  to 
help  him,  though  he  did  not  feel  that  he  needed  help, 
and  always  refused  it.  One  day  two  ragged  Confeder- 
ates just  out  of  a  Federal  prison  came  to  see  him.  They 
said  there  were  sixty  other  fellows  around  the  corner 
too  ragged  to  come.  These  two  had  been  sent  to  offer 
General  Lee  a  home  in  the  mountains  of  Virginia.  "  We 
will  give  you  a  good  house  and  a  fine  farm,"  they  said. 
Lee  as  usual  refused  kindly,  but  tears  came  to  his  eyes 
as  he  saw  that  these  men,  though  poor  themselves, 
wished  to  divide  with  him.  Then  there  were  all  sorts 
of  requests  from  people  who  fancied  they  needed  help, 
and  a  great  many  letters  came  to  him.  To  all  of  them 
Lee  was  kind,  but  he  was  weary  and  his  wife  was  ill. 
In  order  to  rest  himself  and  to  care  for  her  better,  he 
moved  to  a  house  in  the  country  that  a  friend  had  offered 
him  for  his  use.  He  was  now  the  nurse  of  his  wife  as 
he  had  been  of  his  mother  in  his  boyhood.  As  his  mother 
had  thought  he  was  both  son  and  daughter  to  her,  Mrs. 
Lee  thought  he  was  the  best  and  noblest  of  men. 

Soon  after  the  war,  many  Southerners  left  the  coun- 
try and  lived  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  But  Lee,  in 
September,  1865,  wrote,  "I  look  to  better  days.  The 
thought  of  leaving  the  country  is  abhorrent,  and  I 
prefer  to  struggle  for  its  restoration  and  share  its  fate 
rather  than  give  up  all  as  lost."  He  was  urged  to  enter 
the  service  of  Duke  Maximilian  in  Mexico,  but  he  refused 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  175 

to  do  so,  saying  that  it  would  be  better  for  all  Southern- 
ers to  remain  at  home. 

About  this  time,  an  English  nobleman  offered  to  give 
him  an  estate  in  England.  He  urged  Lee  to  accept  it  as 
suitable  to  Lee's  own  merits  and  the  greatness  of  his 
family.  Lee's  friends  all  over  the  South,  at  one  time 
and  another,  tried  to  give  him  land,  money,  and  stock  in 
railroads  and  banks.  But  he  could  not  bring  his  proud, 
independent  spirit  to  accept  and  use  any  of  these  gifts. 

This  great  man,  who  had  been  so  careful  to  secure  a 
good  education  for  himself,  now  looked  to  education  to 
restore  the  wealth  and  culture  of  the  South.  He  thought 
the  entire  youth  of  the  country  should  be  educated.  For 
this  reason,  when  the  presidency  of  Washington  College 
was  offered  to  him,  he  was  willing  to  consider  the  matter. 
The  college  was  a  small  one.  It  had  only  four  profes- 
sors and  not  more  than  forty  students.  Besides,  it  was 
poorly  equipped  and  in  debt.  Although  it  would  mean 
hard  work  and  small  pay  for  him,  he  finally  accepted, 
"in  the  hope,"  as  he  said,  "of  doing  something  for  the 
benefit  of  the  young  men  of  the  South." 

After  he  had  agreed  to  become  president  of  Wash- 
ington College,  he  was  asked  to  take  the  presidency  of 
a  life  insurance  company.  Although  the  salary  was  fifty 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  he  refused  the  place  because 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  give  the  rest  of  his  life 
to  educating  young  men.     The  people  who  made  this 


176 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  177 

offer  thought  he  refused  because  there  would  be  too 
much  work  to  do  in  such  a  position.  So  they  said, 
"But,  General,  you  will  not  be  expected  to  do  any 
work;  what  we  wish  is  the  use  of  your  name."  Lee 
then  asked,  "Do  you  not  think  if  my  name  is  worth 
fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  I  ought  to  be  very  careful 
of  it  ?  "  He  then  politely  declined  the  position,  saying, 
"  I  am  grateful,  but  I  have  a  self-imposed  task  which  I 
must  accomplish.  I  have  led  the  young  men  of  the 
South  in  battle ;  I  have  seen  many  of  them  die  on  the 
field.  I  shall  devote  my  remaining  energies  to  train- 
ing young  men  to  do  their  duty  in  life." 

In  October,  it  was  time  for  General  Lee  to  take  up  his 
college  duties.  So  he  mounted  his  war  horse,  Traveler, 
and  rode  away  to  Lexington,  the  seat  of  the  college. 
On  the  second  of  October,  he  took  the  oath  of  office, 
and  was  then  a  college  president. 

It  was  his  earnest  wish  to  make  Washington  College 
a  great  seat  of  learning,  and  for  this  he  was  well  fitted. 
His  own  military  training  had  given  him  regular  and 
exact  habits,  and  his  force  of  character  enabled  him  to 
impress  these  habits  on  students  and  on  his  fellow-pro- 
fessors. He  made  plans  for  several  improvements,  and 
worked  hard  at  his  task.  The  greatness  of  his  name 
soon  drew  large  numbers  of  students  from  all  parts  of 
the  South.  The  faculty  was  increased,  and  before  long 
the  college  had  become  a  large  and  flourishing  one. 

TWO  GREAT  SOUTHERNERS  —  12 


178  ROBERT   E.    LEE 

During  his  first  year  as  president  of  the  college,  seeing 
that  the  chapel  was  too  small  for  all  the  students,  he  took 
steps  to  have  a  larger  one  built.  He  had  the  plan  drawn 
for  it  under  his  own  supervision,  and  then  he  did  not 
rest  till  the  chapel  was  finished. 

General  Lee  enjoyed  his  work  as  a  teacher  and  wrote 
thus  to  a  friend  about  it,  "For  my  own  part,  I  enjoy  the 
charms  of  civil  life  and  find,  too  late,  that  I  have  wasted 
the  best  years  of  my  life." 

President  Lee  gave  very  close  attention  to  his  duties 
and  knew  even  the  smallest  details  of  the  college  busi- 
ness. He  even  knew  all  the  students  by  name.  One 
morning  when  the  roll  was  called,  there  was  one  name 
that  he  could  not  remember  ever  having  heard  before. 
He  tried  to  recall  its  owner,  but  he  could  not.  At  last 
he  asked  one  of  the  other  professors  who  the  student 
with  the  new  name  was.  He  then  learned  that  this 
student  had  entered  college  during  the  president's 
absence. 

In  Washington  College,  it  had  always  been  the  custom 
for  the  president  and  the  professors  to  watch  the  students 
very  closely  in  order  to  find  out  any  mischief  they  might 
do.  President  Lee  did  not  like  this  plan  and  began 
what  is  called  the  honor  system.  Each  student  was 
trusted  to  do  right  on  his  own  responsibility.  This  en- 
couraged them  to  do  right,  because  they  knew  they  were 
expected  to  do  so,  and  soon  there  was  a  great  change 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  179 

for  the  better  in  the  students  of  the  college.  And  thus 
they  became  known  as  especially  gentlemanly,  high- 
toned,  and  honorable. 

Whenever  a  young  man  got  into  the  habit  of  failing 
to  prepare  his  work,  he  was  usually  sent  to  General 
Lee,  who  would  give  him  a  talk.  Lee  was  very  kind  to 
such  students,  but  he  could  be  very  firm  and  positive, 
too,  when  it  was  necessary. 

A  certain  student  came  late  to  his  classes  for  several 
days.  One  morning  after  the  chapel  exercises,  General 
Lee  met  him  on  the  campus,  just  coming  to  his  work. 
He  spoke  pleasantly  to  the  student,  who  raised  his  cap. 
General  Lee  then  said  to  him,  "Tell  your  aunt  I  say 
will  she  please  have  breakfast  a  little  earlier  for  you." 
His  manner  was  so  kind,  and  the  student  felt  so  ashamed 
that  his  aunt  should  seemingly  be  blamed  for  his  tardi- 
ness, that  he  made  up  his  mind  not  to  be  late  again. 

One  year,  a  rule  was  made  by  the  college  officers  that 
Christmas  day  was  to  be  the  only  holiday  the  students 
were  to  have  at  this  season.  As  they  had  been  used  to 
having  a  week  or  more,  the  students  did  not  like  this 
rule.  So  a  great  many  of  them  got  together  and  wrote 
out  a  paper  against  it.  Then  they  signed  their  names 
to  the  paper  and  tacked  it  to  a  tree  on  the  campus.  In 
this  paper  they  had  declared  they  would  not  get  their 
lessons  nor  attend  the  professors'  classes  during  Christ- 
mas week. 


180  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

General  Lee  soon  learned  of  their  action.  Then  he 
said  that  if  the  young  men  tried  to  carry  out  their  reso- 
lution, he  would  expel  every  student,  lock  up  the  col- 
lege, and  put  the  key  in  his  pocket.  It  was  amusing 
how  fast  the  students  tried  to  get  their  names  off  the 
paper.  The  attendance  at  the  classes  is  said  to  have 
been  unusually  good  that  Christmas  week. 

One  of  Lee's  greatest  pleasures  and  his  chief  means  of 
rest  while  he  lived  at  Lexington  was  riding  his  war  horse, 
Traveler,  about  the  country.  He  often  took  with  him 
some  of  the  little  daughters  of  the  professors.  They 
were  always  delighted  to  go  with  him.  Once  he  car- 
ried two  little  girls  to  ride,  one  of  whom  had  mumps. 
General  Lee  pretended  great  fear  that  Traveler  would 
have  the  disease,  asking,  "What  shall  I  do  for  him  if 
he  gets  mumps?"  The  little  girls  thought  this  very 
funny,  and  tried  to  tell  him  how  to  cure  the  disease,  but, 
of  course,  Traveler  was  never  bothered  with  it. 

This  horse  was  a  very  fine  and  beautiful  one.  He 
was  iron-gray  in  color  with  black  mane  and  tail.  He 
was  full  of  fire,  and  when  excited,  hard  to  manage. 
Once  during  the  war,  the  general  had  dismounted  to 
rest,  and  was  sitting  on  a  log  with  the  reins  over  his 
arm  when  Traveler  became  frightened,  reared,  jerked 
at  the  bridle,  and  then  suddenly  dashed  away.  His 
master  was  thrown  to  the  ground,  both  his  hands  were 
hurt,  and  some  small  bones  broken  in  one  of  them. 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  181 

It  was  six  weeks  before  the  general  could  go  without  his 
hand  in  a  sling,  but  he  did  not  lose  his  love  for  his  horse 
or  his  confidence  in  him.  At  another  time  when  the 
horse  had  been  left  tied  by  his  master,  he  became  fright- 
ened, broke  away,  and  ran  off.  When  General  Lee 
came  back,  a  great  crowd  had  gathered  and  was  trying 
to  catch  the  general's  horse  for  him.  Lee  asked  them 
please  to  be  quiet.  He  then  stepped  out  where  he  could 
be  seen  by  the  horse  and  gave  a  whistle.  Traveler 
heard  him  and  at  once  came  trotting  back  to  his  master. 

Lee  often  rode  out  among  the  farms  about  Lexing- 
ton. He  might  sometimes  be  seen  sitting  on  Traveler, 
talking  with  some  farmer  about  the  crops,  the  weather, 
and  the  outlook  for  a  plentiful  harvest  for  the  year. 
This  was  one  of  the  general's  favorite  pleasures.  As 
he  could  not  now  have  a  farm  of  his  own  to  look  after, 
he  found  happiness  in  other  people's  farms. 

With  all  his  duties  and  cares,  Lee  did  not  fail  to  love 
his  pets  and  to  care  for  them  to  the  last.  At  Lexington 
he  had  two  cats  named  Baxter  and  Tom  the  Nipper. 
Tom  got  his  name  from  being  so  quick  to  "nip"  the 
rats  and  mice  about  the  house.  One  night  when  it  was 
cold  and  stormy,  General  Lee  was  awakened  to  hear 
Tom  outside  begging  to  be  let  in.  The  general  got 
up  and  opened  the  window,  but  still  Tom  could  not 
get  in.  The  window  was  too  high  for  him.  Then  the 
general  took  Mrs.  Lee's  crutch  and  reached  it  as  far 


182  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

out  as  he  could.  Tom  climbed  on  to  the  end  of  it  and 
was  lifted  into  the  warm  room.  No  doubt  the  cat  was 
grateful  for  such  kindness. 

General  Lee  always  loved  children.  He  had  a  little 
boy  friend  at  Lexington.  During  one  of  the  com- 
mencements of  the  college,  when  every  one  was  ex- 
pected to  be  on  grand  behavior,  this  little  boy  saw 
General  Lee  sitting  in  the  place  of  honor  on  the  rostrum. 
As  he  wished  to  sit  with  his  friend,  the  general,  he 
slipped  away  from  his  mother  and  climbed  upon  the 
platform.  He  found  his  way  to  Lee  and  took  his  place 
beside  him  and  finally  climbed  into  Lee's  lap,  all  un- 
conscious that  he  should  have  acted  at  all  otherwise. 

General  Lee  himself  was  greatly  loved  by  all  the  sol- 
diers who  had  ever  served  under  him.  After  the  war, 
an  old  soldier,  who  had  been  under  Lee  in  the  Second 
Regiment  of  the  United  States  cavalry  in  Texas,  heard 
that  Lee  was  very  poor  and  in  want.  This  soldier  had 
fought  on  the  Union  side,  but  he  could  not  bear  to 
think  that  his  old  commander  might  be  in  need,  so  he 
got  a  basket,  and  having  filled  it  with  provisions,  car- 
ried it  to  General  Lee.  When  he  saw  Lee,  he  was  so  glad 
that  he  seized  him  in  his  arms  and  kissed  him.  Lee 
was  grateful  to  him  for  the  provisions,  but  more  so  for 
his  kindness,  and  he  said  to  the  man,  "If  you  have  more 
food  or  money  than  you  need,  give  it  to  the  poor,  crip- 
pled Confederate  soldiers." 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  183 

Lee  was  once  seen  at  his  yard  gate  in  Lexington, 
talking  with  an  old  man,  who  seemed  very  much  pleased 
with  the  notice  he  was  receiving  from  so  great  a  soldier. 
At  last  the  old  man  went  away,  his  manner  showing 
that  he  was  in  high  spirits.  General  Lee,  on  being 
asked  who  the  man  was,  replied,  "That  is  one  of  our 
old  soldiers  who  is  needy.  He  fought  on  the  other  side, 
but  we  must  not  think  of  that."  It  was  afterwards 
learned  that  Lee  not  only  had  spoken  kindly  to  the 
soldier,  but  had  helped  him  with  money. 

You  see  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  Lee  to  dislike 
any  one.  Once  when  some  one  spoke  unkindly  of  the 
Union  soldiers  and  the  Northern  people,  Lee  said,  "How 
can  you  speak  such  things  ?  There  has  not  been  a  day 
since  the  war  began  that  I  have  not  prayed  for  them." 
After  one  of  the  battles  of  the  war,  General  Lee  was 
riding  over  the  field.  A  Federal  soldier  who  was  near 
by,  lying  wounded  on  the  ground,  saw  Lee  as  he  was 
going  past  him.  The  young  Federal  shouted,  "Hurrah 
for  the  Union  !"  and  Lee  then  rode  up  to  where  the 
boy  was  lying.  The  young  soldier  afterward  said  he 
was  certain  that  Lee  was  going  to  kill  him,  but  the  gen- 
eral got  down  from  his  horse,  gave  him  his  hand,  and 
said,  "My  son,  I  hope  you  will  soon  be  well."  After 
Lee  rode  away,  the  young  fellow,  there  on  the  bloody 
ground,  cried  himself  to  sleep,  thinking  of  such  unex- 
pected goodness  and  kindness. 


1 84  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

There  were  few  men  who  laid  aside  the  war  and  its 
bitter  memories  more  completely  than  General  Lee.  A 
lady  once  came  to  Lexington  to  place  her  sons  in  college. 
While  talking  to  the  general,  she  spoke  harshly  of  the 
North.  Now,  although  Lee  had  fought  the  North 
as  hard  as  he  could,  he  never  spoke  unkindly  of  those 
who  had  been  his  foes,  nor  did  he  like  to  hear  others  do 
so.  So  he  said  to  the  lady,  "Madam,  do  not  train  up 
your  children  in  hostility  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States.  Remember  that  we  are  one  country 
now.  Dismiss  from  your  mind  all  sectional  feeling 
and  bring  them  up  to  be  Americans." 

During  one  of  his  campaigns  in  Virginia,  General 
Lee  had  taken  a  very  severe  cold,  which  made  his 
throat  sore.  Treat  it  as  he  would,  it  seemed  that  he 
could  not  cure  it.  By  October  of  1869,  his  throat  had 
become  badly  affected  and  was  giving  him  a  great  deal 
of  pain  and  trouble.  The  next  spring,  the  doctors 
persuaded  him  to  go  farther  south,  to  Georgia  and  Flor- 
ida, hoping  a  warmer  climate  would  relieve  him.  At 
last  he  agreed  to  go.  But  he  knew  his  absence  would 
add  to  the  work  of  the  other  professors.  So  in  order 
that  a  new  president  might  be  elected  to  perform  the 
duties  of  that  office,  he  resigned.  But  as  the  other 
professors  were  glad  to  do  Lee's  work,  the  trustees  of  the 
college  would  not  accept  his  resignation. 

His  daughter,  Agnes,  went  with   him  on  this  trip. 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  185 

He  was  gladly  welcomed  in  the  South,  and  great  crowds 
gathered  at  all  the  railway  stations  where  he  was  to 
pass.  They  brought  loads  of  fruit  and  all  sorts  of  deli- 
cacies for  the  great  general.  Agnes  said  the  people 
seemed  to  want  to  kill  them  with  good  things  to  eat. 
The  people  would  want  him  to  come  out  on  the  plat- 
form of  the  coach  so  they  could  see  him.  But  Lee  was 
modest,  as  he  always  had  been,  and  did  not  like  to  do 
so.  At  one  place  where  the  crowd  was  clamoring  to  see 
him,  he  asked,  "Why  should  they  wish  to  see  me? 
I  am  only  a  poor  old  Confederate." 

He  stayed  in  Georgia  and  Florida  for  several  months, 
but  he  got  no  better.  In  the  summer,  he  went  back  to 
Virginia  and  then  visited  the  Hot  Springs  in  that  State. 
Here  again  his  throat  got  no  better.  Then  he  went 
back  to  his  old  home  and  spent  a  few  days.  He  said 
his  visits  to  Florida  and  the  Hot  Springs  helped  him 
very  little,  but  it  did  him  good  to  go  to  the  old  place 
and  see  the  mules  walking  around  and  the  corn  growing. 

In  September,  1870,  he  again  took  up  his  college  duties. 
While  he  had  been  away,  the  trustees  had  set  aside  a 
large  sum  of  money  to  build  Lee  a  good  home  at  Lex- 
ington, and  to  give  him  three  thousand  dollars  every 
year.  As  usual  Lee  refused  the  money  altogether,  but 
agreed  to  live  in  the  house  as  the  official  home  of  the 
college  president. 

General  Lee  was  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 


186  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

pal  church  at  Lexington,  and  always  was  very  faithful 
to  his  religious  duties.  One  cloudy,  damp  afternoon  in 
October,  he  went  to  a  business  meeting  of  the  church, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  increase  the  pastor's  salary. 
When  the  meeting  was  nearly  ready  to  close,  not  enough 
money  to  raise  the  salary  had  been  made  up.  General 
Lee  quietly  agreed  to  pay  what  was  lacking  in  addition 
to  the  large  share  he  already  was  paying.  He  then 
went  home.  He  had  worn  his  military  cloak  over  his 
other  clothes,  but  still  the  dampness  of  the  room  had 
made  him  cold  and  chilly. 

When  he  reached  his  house,  he  found  his  family 
waiting  supper  for  him.  He  came  into  the  dining  room 
and  was  just  going  to  ask  a  blessing  on  the  evening  meal, 
but  he  found  that  he  could  not  speak  a  word.  So  he 
silently  took  his  place  at  the  table.  He  was  removed 
to  his  bed  and  a  physician  was  sent  for. 

Everything  possible  was  done  for  the  general,  but  he 
steadily  grew  worse.  His  physician  said  to  him,  "  Gen- 
eral, you  must  make  haste  and  get  well ;  Traveler  has 
been  standing  so  long  in  his  stable  that  he  needs  exer- 
cise." General  Lee  did  not  speak,  but  he  shook  his 
head,  for  he  knew  that  he  could  never  ride  the  dear  old 
war  horse  again. 

He  lingered  on  his  bed  until  the  12th  of  October,  when 
he  died.  Toward  the  last  he  could  speak  a  little.  His 
mind  seemed  to  be  with  the  past,  probably  fighting  over 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  187 

again  some  of  his  great  battles,  for  once  he  said,  "Tell 
Hill  he  must  come  up,"  and  his  last  words,  "Strike  the 
tent,"  seemed  to  show  that  he  was  again  passing  through 
some  of  the  great  and  glorious  days  of  his  life.  He  did 
not  speak  much,  however,  and  for  the  most  part,  the 
silence  in  the  room  was  unbroken.  Thus  the  old  hero 
quietly  breathed  his  last. 

On  the  next  day,  his  body  was  borne  to  the  college 
chapel.  In  the  front  of  the  procession  marched  a 
guard  of  old  Confederates.  The  clergyman  came  sec- 
ond. The  hearse  was  next,  just  behind  which  Traveler 
in  full  equipment  and  wearing  crepe  was  led  by  two  old 
soldiers.  Behind  these  followed  a  long  line  made  up  of 
the  trustees,  faculty,  and  cadets  of  the  college,  and  citi- 
zens of  the  town. 

His  body  lay  in  state  on  the  platform  for  two  days. 
His  face  was  left  uncovered,  and  thousands  came  to 
look  at  it  for  the  last  time.  The  children  came  too,  and 
seemed  to  grieve  more,  if  possible,  than  any  one  else. 
Then  he  was  buried  in  the  college  chapel  with  the  simple 
burial  service  of  his  church  and  a  military  salute  from 
the  college  guns.  He  was  sorely  missed,  and  people 
all  over  America  grieved  for  him. 

Even  at  the  time  of  his  death,  General  Lee  had  al- 
ready taken  his  place  as  one  of  the  greatest,  the  best,  and 
the  noblest  of  all  Americans.  The  London  Standard, 
a  great  English  newspaper,  said,  "A   country   which 


1 88  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

has  given  birth  to  men  like  him,  and  those  who  followed 
him,  may  look  the  chivalry  of  Europe  in  the  face  with- 
out shame,  for  the  fatherlands  of  Sidney  and  Bayard 
never  produced  a  nobler  soldier  and  Christian  than 
General  Robert  E.  Lee." 

His  birthday  is  now  celebrated  as  a  holiday  in  the 
South  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  On 
that  day,  banks  and  other  business  houses  close. 
Schools  and  colleges  celebrate  the  day  with  speeches, 
papers,  and  grand  orations,  commemorating  his  valor 
and  his  virtues. 

Washington  College,  of  which  Lee  had  been  president, 
was  founded  by  General  George  Washington.  After 
the  Revolution  closed,  the  people  of  Virginia  wished  to 
show  the  great  love  they  bore  Washington.  They 
therefore  gave  him  some  very  valuable  bonds.  As  he 
was  rich  and  did  not  need  them  he  would  not  accept 
the  bonds  for  himself,  but  knowing  the  Virginians 
meant  a  kindness,  he  would  not  hurt  their  feelings  by 
entirely  refusing  the  gift.  So  he  proposed  that  the 
bonds  be  used  to  found  a  school.  This  met  with  favor, 
and  Washington  College  was  built  and  named  for  him. 
It  flourished  but  went  down  during  the  Civil  War. 
Because  Lee  did  so  much  to  rebuild  it,  the  trustees, 
after  he  died,  decided  that  it  should  bear  Lee's  name 
along  with  that  of  Washington,  so  that  it  is  now 
Washington  and  Lee  University.     There  is  a  monu- 


THE   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT  189 

ment  to  Lee  at  the  University,  and  also  a  fine  one  at 
Richmond. 

Benjamin  Harvey  Hill  was  a  great  Georgian  who  knew 
and  loved  Lee.  Perhaps  there  could  be  no  more  fitting 
close  to  this  book  than  Hill's  tribute  to  his  friend.     You 


LEE   MONUMENT    AT    WASHINGTON    AND    LEE    UNIVERSITY 

may  not  now  quite  understand  it  all,  but  if  you  will 
read  it  carefully,  I  think  you  will  agree  that  it  was  a 
fine  thing  to  say.  Of  Lee,  Hill  said,  "He  possessed 
every  virtue  of  other  great  commanders  without  their 
vices.  He  was  a  foe  without  hate;  a  friend  without 
treachery ;  a  soldier  without  cruelty ;  a  victor  without 
oppression  ;  and  a  victim  without  murmuring.  He  was 
a  public  officer  without  vices ;   a  private  citizen  with- 


190  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

out  wrong ;  a  neighbor  without  reproach ;  a  Christian 
without  hypocrisy ;  and  a  man  without  guile.  He  was 
Caesar  without  his  ambition ;  Frederick,  without  his 
tyranny ;  Napoleon,  without  his  selfishness ;  and  Wash- 
ington, without  his  reward.  He  was  obedient  to  au- 
thority as  a  servant,  and  royal  in  authority  as  a  true 
king.  He  was  gentle  as  a  woman  in  life  ;  modest  and 
pure  as  a  virgin  in  thought ;  watchful  as  a  Roman  vestal 
in  duty ;  submissive  to  law  as  Socrates ;  and  grand  in 
battle  as  Achilles." 


THE     LEE     READERS 

By  EDNA  HENRY  LEE 


First  Book $0.25  Third  Book $0.40 

Second  Book 30  Fourth  Book 50 

Fifth  Book $0.60 


THE  author  and  compiler  of  these  books  is  a  Southern 
teacher  of  experience,  who  has  made  a  special  study  of 
the  needs  and  possibilities  of  Southern  schools.  Without 
giving  undue  prominence  to  Southern  literature  and  history, 
she  has  endeavored  to  present  for  study  and  admiration  some 
of  the  worthiest  efforts  and  achievements  of  the  South.  But, 
although  the  series  has  a  distinctly  Southern  tone,  it  is  never- 
theless free  from  narrowness  and  partisan  bias. 
^[  In  this  basal  series  of  readers  the  chief  aim  is  to  teach  the 
child  how  to  read,  and  to  do  this  pleasantly,  thoroughly,  and 
without  unnecessary  expenditure  of  time  and  labor.  At  the 
same  time  there  is  included  a  definite,  practical,  and  progres- 
sive plan  of  study  of  literature,  art,  and  nature.  The  series 
is  carefully  graded,  and  the  contents  of  the  different  books 
are  particularly  adapted  to  the  grades  for  which  they  are 
designed.  Each  volume  contains  a  carefully  chosen  vocabu- 
lary, appropriate  reading  material,  language  exercises,  nature 
studies,  and  beautiful  illustrations.  In  the  earliest  books  there 
is  a  pleasing  variety  of  famous  fables,  poems,  and  stories, 
which  tell  about  interesting  people,  animals,  birds,  and  flowers. 
More  advanced  and  instructive  selections  are  included  in  the 
later  volumes. 

^[  The  study  of  literature  has  been  made  one  of  the  most 
important  features,  and  each  book  contains  noteworthy  ex- 
tracts from  the  greatest  writings  in  English  and  American 
literature.  Before  each  selection  a  brief  biographical  sketch  of 
its  author  is  given.  Throughout  the  series  art  is  studied  sys- 
tematically— a  feature  not  found  in  other  school  readers. 


AMERICAN    BOOK     COMPANY 

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MAURY'S 
NEW       GEOGRAPHIES 


New  Elements  of  Geography $0-55 

New  Complete  Geography I-25 


THESE  new  geographies  provide  a  particularly  service- 
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imum number  of  important  and  useful  facts,  and  a 
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^T  Industrial  and.  commercial  geography  receive  much  more 
attention  than  is  customary  in  books  of  this  class.  Important 
information  of  this  character  is  brought  out  from  time  to  time 
in  the  text,  and  also  by  the  remarkable  series  of  illustrations 
inserted  at  frequent  intervals.  At  the  close  of  the  New  Com- 
plete Geography  is  a  supplement  of  34  pages  devoted  entirely 
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treated  chiefly  in  connection  with  each  continent  and  sub- 
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so  graphically  by  diagrams  as  to  require  but  little  text. 
^[  The  illustrations  are  especially  numerous  and  illuminating, 
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each  illustration  is  given,  in  the  place  of  the  ordinarv  brief 
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